Jessa Morton

Jessa Morton is the protagonist and first person narrator of the novel. In the narrative present, Jessa runs her late father Prentice's taxidermy shop in central Florida. After Prentice commits suicide, he leaves a note for Jessa pleading with her to keep up the business and take care of the family as he would have. Because Jessa was so attached to her father throughout her childhood, wanting to be just like him, Jessa adopts his needs and desires as her own. Like Prentice, Jessa avoids her grief and familial conflicts and hides in her work.

Jessa's profound isolation, and tendency towards conflict avoidance, is also a product of her hurt regarding Brynn Wiley. As children, Jessa, her brother, Milo, and Brynn were always close. When Jessa was 16, she realized she was in love with Brynn, and the two began a secret sexual relationship. Meanwhile, however, Brynn carried...