Izzy Stone

Izzy, aka Isabella Stone, is the 17-year-old high school senior and novel's protagonist. She has a history of being shuttled from one dysfunctional foster home to another when the story begins. She also hides a dark personal secret: she's been cutting herself for more than 7 years without anyone knowing. She does it to achieve a sense of relief, but her pain is so deeply-held, even cutting will not work.

She also hides the reality that her mother shot her father when she was 10-years-old from anyone she meets. Izzy has broken off all contact with her mother as a result, but aches for resolution.

Owing to these traits, Izzy is distanced, emotionally flat and very secretive at the novel's beginning. It is through the unraveling of the mystery of Clara, the flapper from the 1920s whose life disappeared into institutionalized care, that Izzy slowly is challenged to...