Summary

The first section of the novel is titled "The Calm." Chapter 1 opens with 18-year-old Tilla at the Toronto airport with her mother Marie and her younger sister Mia. Tilla notes that Marie believes a person has two birthdays – the day of actual birth and “the day you leave home and give birth to yourself” (3). Tilla has never understood that until now, when she is about to cry as she prepares to board a plane for Jamaica to visit their father, Tyson. She reminds herself to “Be brave” and tries not to cry as she holds her mother's hand. Marie is on the phone with Tyson and is clearly worried about all the things that could go wrong, but insists the girls will go. Tilla thinks about Tyson during the flight. He manages a trucking company for his cousin, and “spends half the year...