Olwen was plunged prematurely into adulthood when her parents died in tragic circumstances. She and her three younger sisters - each single, each with a PhD - are now in their thirties and leading disparate, distanced lives. Until one day Olwen, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the Earth's future, abruptly vanishes from her home.Together for the first time in years, her three siblings descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn't actually want to be found. In an isolated rural bungalow they reach into their uncommon past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future. Fiercely witty and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland's most gifted storytellers.