Summary

In the opening of The Mothers, the reader is introduced to the main narrators of the novel. The Mothers provide a subjective perspective on the events of the story and interject with commentary on the themes and subjects that the novel explores. In Chapter 1, these Mothers, a group of older women who are part of the congregation of the Upper Room Chapel in Oceanside, California, talk about the various rumors they had heard over the years. One in particular that they remember is the one surrounding Nadia Turner, and how she had a relationship with Luke Sheppard, the pastor's son, during her senior year of high school.

The story then jumps to the relationship between Nadia and Luke, narrated from a third-person omniscient perspective, as they met after Nadia's mother's suicide. Wandering aimlessly, Nadia ended up at Fat Charlie's Seafood Shack, where Luke waited...