North Carolina

North Carolina is one of the novel's primary settings. Chapters set in North Carolina are not located in a distinct town. Rather, the author labels such chapters with the phrase, "A city in the Piedmont of North Carolina" (1). Therefore, the North Carolina city where the Ventura girls grow up, could be any city in the state. Therefore, the conflicts that define their world, particularly those involving race, could occur in any American town.

Noelle, Margarita, and Diane grow up in this undisclosed North Carolina town with their mother, father, and stepfather. For some years, they live solely with Lacey in the house she and Robbie bought together. While Robbie is in prison, they move in with Hank, the old house becoming nothing more than a memory.

In the narrative present, the characters all reconvene in North Carolina. While here, they must confront the unresolved conflicts of their...