Daphne Larsen-Hall

The central protagonist of The Displacements is Daphne Larsen-Hall, the wife of an ostensibly wealthy doctor named Brantley who works as a sculptor and takes care of three children—Gavin, Mia, and Oliver—from her luxurious house in Miami. Although Daphne is surrounded by opulence and plenty, she finds herself somewhat dissatisfied with her circumstances at the beginning of the novel and often desires to abandon her high-octane life in Miami in order to return to her roots in Michigan, where she first became an artist. To make matters worse, Daphne exists in tension with her stepson, Gavin, who has become a surly freeloader since dropping out of Stanford and returning to live at home.

Daphne's values are immediately tested by the arrival of Hurricane Luna, which finds her family homeless and without access to any money after Gavin intentionally leaves Daphne's purse behind. Initially, Daphne responds...