Summary

Cecelia Honeycutt lives with her mother and father in Willoughby, Ohio. Cecelia is only about seven when her mother’s mental illness reveals itself for the first time and she gets up to find her mother sitting, staring out the window. There is no breakfast ready, and no school dress ironed and waiting. She tells Cecelia that when she is better, she’ll take them both to Georgia where people really know how to live. She remains depressed for the rest of the winter and just as Cecelia begins to wonder if she will ever smile again, spring comes and with it a change in her mother’s mood. She is bright and happy; cuts flowers and spreads them around the house; paints her nails, and dances Cecelia around the living room. She takes Cecelia to town for new clothes, and purchases so...