Summary

After quoting from When the Drummers Were Women by Layne Redmond, the Epigraph begins with Blythe parked outside Fox’s home. She watches as he and their daughter, Violet, enjoy Christmas Eve with their new family. Through the window, Blythe watches as Violet seems to dote upon her younger half brother, Jet. She reaches over to her manuscript on her passengers’ seat, intending to give it to Fox to share her “side of the story” (3).

Blythe’s manuscript began in Chapter 1 with the description of how she and Fox met in college. Fox was adoring and attentive to socially withdrawn Blythe. By age 21, they spent all their time together. Fox wanted children, and he expected Blythe to feel the same without consulting with her. The perspective shifted to a third-person omniscient narrator who described Etta, Blythe’s maternal grandmother, in “1939–1958.” Etta was born...