Summary

The novel opens with a section titled “Journal of Rose Ingrid Castle.” Rose writes that Owen left three months earlier after taking a job in London. Rose was unable to go with him, mainly because of her responsibility to her twin sister, Fern. Rose says her problem with Owen stems from her desire to have a child. Though they had agreed they would not have children, Fern changed her mind at 27. Rose says she is seeing a therapist and they spend all their time talking about her “traumatic childhood.” Writing in the journal is a part of her therapy. Rose feels a specific night at the river is the obvious place to begin writing about the past. Her mother, Nina, had been dating a man named Daniel for a few months. That summer, Nina, Rose, and Fern joined Daniel and his son, Billy...