Summary

When Nina was fourteen, she and her mother travelled together to Italy. Her mother and father were supposed to go together to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. At the last minute, Nina’s mother tells her the trip is cancelled because her father has to work but Nina knows that is a lie. Ultimately, Nina takes her father’s place instead of cancelling altogether. It isn’t until Nina is on the plane that she realizes she hasn’t seen her father before they left or said goodbye.

The next break-narrative section tells the story of the beautiful princess Dymphna who “vowed her eternal chastity to her Lord in Heaven” (75). After her mother’s death, she refuses to marry her father who has decided his own daughter is the only woman he desires as his second wife. Dymphna...