Abandonment

Through the intersecting third and first person narratives of Glory, Corrine, Mary Rose, and Debra Ann, in particular, the author explores the impact of abandonment on the individual's psyche. Though each of the women has had a varying childhood, and does not share the exact same circumstances in the novel's narrative present, they are all linked through their isolation. These versions of isolation are all caused, in one sense of another, by the departure or removal of some significant person or positive force in their lives.

After Glory's power and agency are stolen from her by Dale Strickland, her mother, Alma, is then deported. Glory is left almost entirely alone to process what has happened to her, to understand who she is allowed to become in the aftermath of her rape. Though Alma did not intentionally leave her daughter, Glory's world is defined by her absence...