Lily Bard

Lily Bard is a cleaning woman in Shakespeare, Arkansas, living a quiet life in a small southern town. Lily moves to Shakespeare four years earlier, after being brutally raped and mutilated by several men. After moving around for a bit, Lily finally settles in Shakespeare, the small town atmosphere what she needs to build her life again. In between cleaning homes and businesses, Lily works out faithfully at Body Time, the local gym owned by her sometimes lover Marshall Sedaka. Building her strength and practicing karate, Lily also builds her emotional strength, though she is slow to let anyone close to her, and unwilling to share all of herself with anyone.

Lily's own tragedies make it difficult for her to accept injustice or unfairness anywhere, and as a result she became involved several months ago when a young black man had been in an unfair fight with...