New York City

The narrative begins and ends with events taking place in New York, the city in which narrator and protagonist Cat lives and works. Throughout the narrative, there is a sense that for Cat, New York has represented escape for her, a new life away from the isolations and challenges of Northern Michigan, where she grew up. As the narrative concludes, there is also a sense that she is finally both prepared and able to accept, and move into, the opportunity that New York has long represented for her.

The Present

The narrative line taking place in New York unfolds in the present. Cat is in her early / mid-thirties as this narrative line unfolds. The novel's settings in time tend to not play a significant role in the events of the narrative themselves, providing instead a means through which the novel can explore its thematic interest in...