Shelby Richmond

Shelby is the protagonist of this novel and plagued by the guilt of harming her best friend in a car accident when she was seventeen. Shelby lives a lonely childhood because she is an only child and her parents, Dan and Sue, have been in a loveless marriage since their wedding day. Shelby is close with her mother until the day Sue dies from lung cancer. Shelby learns of Sue's condition when she is in her twenties, and she cancels her college classes in order to spend time with the most important person in her life. Shelby's best friend, Helene, is stuck living in a vegetative state after Shelby crashes their car during a snowstorm. After the crash, Shelby feels all alone and rejected. Her guilt tumbles her into a deep state of depression, which leads her parents to institutionalizing her. As a result, Shelby misses going...