Karen

Karen is the female narrator of the novel. She is a single mother, living in New York and working as a political campaign manager. She is forty-three years old and has been diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She has been given a prognosis of only a couple more years and is writing a memoir style book for her six-year-old son. She knows that she will not be around to watch him grow up so she wants to leave him this book of advice, truths, stories, and memories so that he will remember her.

When she got pregnant, she was in a relationship with Dave, and was very much in love with him. When she told him she was pregnant, he commented that children were not a part of his plan and she leaves, not hearing from him again until her son Jacob asks her to make contact...