Coming of Age

Ursa ages, both physically and emotionally, over the course of the book. Physically, twenty-two years pass from the time of her marriage to Mutt in 1947 until he returns to her in 1969. The early years are filled with turmoil though Ursa comes to find a peace as the years wear on.

Emotionally, Ursa works through the years of remembering the stories of cruelty by the slaver, Corregidora, to the point that she finds herself able to look at the situation more realistically. During the early part of her life, she is constantly doing what she's taught: remembering the stories. She does this to the point that she can no longer fully distinguish what happens to her and what happened to her grandmother and great-grandmother at the hand of their cruel master. By the time she reunites with Mutt, Ursa has come to understand that what was done...