Isabelle "Izzy" Richardson

Izzy Richardson is the youngest of the four Richardson children. In the summer of 1997, she was only a Freshman in high school when she set her family’s house on fire and left the suburb of Shaker Heights for good. Izzy had been an outcast amongst her family since before her birth. Her mother had experienced vigorous and “unabated” morning sickness throughout her entire pregnancy, and thus, “[i]t wasn’t until Izzy that the charmed row of children came to an end” (108). Izzy was born eleven weeks premature, but she overcame her initial trauma, "grew stronger," and "displayed a [remarkable] tenacity of will" (109). Izzy was intelligent, she possessed a "certainty of purpose," and like her mother, a deep concern "with right versus wrong" (112). However, unlike her mother, whose spark was suffocated by the principles of Shaker Heights, Izzy's spark was fanned by Mia's influence.

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