But, my father was, I believed, mine.
-- Nadia Owusu (Unwelcome Reunion)

Importance: When Nadia's father remarried Anabel, she was immediately jealous. Her mother's abandonment had made her reliant upon her father for a sense of identity and grounding. His new wife threatened her sense of stability. In this passage, Nadia introduces her close and complex relationship with Osei during her childhood, and on into the years after his death. By seeing her father as a possession that belonged to her, Nadia thought she could guarantee his constancy. She was, however, unprepared for him to abandon her when he died of cancer.

If I belonged nowhere and to no one, then what was I?
-- Nadia Owusu (Aches)

Importance: Just two weeks after Anabel told Nadia her father had died of AIDS, not cancer, her boyfriend of four years broke up with her. His abandonment amplified her feelings of loneliness and confusion. Anabel's revelation had made her doubt her faith in...