Rae McKeon spent most of her life trying to reach her emotionally absent mother, Fern. Now that her mother is dead, Rae seeks to discover the reason for Fern's suffocating silences, the barriers she erected between herself and her family. The only person who could connect with Fern was Rae's daughter Hannah, but Rae's relationship has never been strong with Hannah either. From unruly child to defiant teenager to unwed mother, Rae always seemed to find the most self-destructive means of coping with her life's challenges. But even though Rae could defy her strict, disapproving father, protecting herself from her mother's chronic depression proved to be her toughest challenge. When Rae finds a box of her mother's diaries, she is suddenly able to decode the path of Fern's life, even while she tries to sort out her own life, including her strange relationship with her long-term boyfriend and her estrangement from her daughter Hannah. Through three generations, Beyond Reach explores the oppressions that have silenced women for centuries. Fern is crippled by fear, Rae by shame, and Hannah by judgment. Just like the main characters, the answers often seem beyond reach.