Summary

The first half of the novel, beginning with Chapter 1, is narrated by Dana Lynn Yarboro, who is the daughter of her mother Gwendolyn and her father, James Witherspoon. James is a bigamist: his marriage to Gwendolyn is his second marriage. James continues to be married to his first wife, Laverne, with whom he has a daughter virtually the same age as Dana, named Chaurisse. Dana recalls how, when she was a kindergartener, and assigned to draw a family portrait, she had drawn both families. James, making his weekly evening visit to Dana and Gwendolyn’s house, is unhappy with the picture, and enforces the lesson to Dana that her and Gwendolyn are his secret family, while Chaurisse and Laverne are his public family. Days later, Dana is feeling self-conscious about the gap in her mouth, having just lost a tooth. Gwendolyn affirms to...