April Sawicki

April is the first-person narrator and protagonist in The People We Keep. At he outset of the novel, April is living by herself in a motorhome, and struggling to finish high school. After her father began seeing Irene, he stopped coming home and the narrator was left to take care of herself. She sees his neglect as a reflection of her own worth and believes that she is inherently unlovable. When she is not working at the diner, April plays guitar and writes songs. After her first public performance she “want[s] to climb on stage again to play more songs and keep [the audience] clapping” (12). She and her boyfriend Matty have plans to get married after high school, but she is disillusioned by the idea of buying a trailer and consigning herself to a life in Little River. When her father smashes her guitar, April resolves...