Prologue and Part 1: Chapters 1-3 Summary

Connie Danforth is a fourteen-year-old girl the spring her mother is charged with the death of a client of her midwife practice. Connie watches the drama unfold around her and is powerless to stop the events that could lead to her family's destruction.

In the prologue, Connie watches as the jury returns to the courtroom after deliberating her mother's fate. When no one in the jury will look at her mother, Connie becomes hysterical under the belief that this behavior means her mother will be convicted. In chapter 1, Connie recalls using words such a vulva as a young child, unaware that a word such as this has no place in polite conversation. Connie also recalls how many of her friend's mothers would hesitate to allow their children to play with her because of her mother's...