Lola De Leon

Lola is the story's 14-year-old narrator and protagonist. She was raised in Paterson, New Jersey by her hardworking, abusive mother, but narrates previous events from the Dominican Republic, where she lives in the story's present. She is defined by three major characteristics, namely her vivid fantasy life, her rebellious nature and her seemingly supernatural clairvoyant abilities and sensitivity to detecting moments of profound change. At the story's opening, Lola is 12 and is forced to feel for the tumor in her mother's breast that will alter the course of the rest of her life. Lola suggests that she was sexually abused by a neighbor when she was 8, after which her mother forces Lola to suppress the memory and her feelings about it.

Raised without a father and expected to take care of her younger brother while her mother was at work, Lola was denied a typical childhood...