Alice

Alice is Taylor's mother and Turtle's grandmother. At the beginning of the novel, she is stuck in an unhappy marriage. Since "women on their own" tend to run in her family, she decides to leave her husband. She worries, though, that all the women in her family are "in danger of ending up alone by their own stubborn choice." Yet she is a caring and supportive mother to Taylor, who insists that she "always knows what you need." When she participates in the Stomp Dance in Heaven, the sense of connection she experiences makes her feel "entirely alive," and for the first time, completely included. She also is able to form a romantic connection with Cash and thus declare her "family of women" ready to "open its doors to men."

Sugar Boss

See Sugar Hornbuckle

Barbie

Barbie works as a waitress in a Las Vegas casino when Taylor...