The Ice Carriers — Anna Enquist

What happens to parents when a teenager runs away from home? Outwardly everything seems to be all right, but it's an illusion. Their daughter has run away and the parents can't talk about it. They act as if it never happened...
Nico and Louise both have good careers: Louise teaches classical languages and Nico is the director of a psychiatric hospital. Both try to impose their will elsewhere, on things outside their relationship; Louise on the sandswept land of her garden, Nico on what he perceives as the disorganization of the hospital he runs - despite resistance from those who would be affected by his proposed changes.