Summary

The novel opens from the perspective of Ava Jackson, a 34-year-old single mother, in 2017. Ava and her 12-year-old son King are moving in with Ava's grandmother, Martha, who is aging and needs help around the house. She will pay Ava, who hopes to save money to buy her own home. Ava is mixed race, her father was white and her mother, Gladys, is black. Martha is her father's mother. Ava's father left Gladys while they were in graduate school.

King reminds Ava that they forgot her photograph of her grandmother's great grandmother, Josephine. Ava tells him they will have to go back for it later as they wander into Martha's palatial mansion. Martha welcomes them and Ava recalls her childhood; her father rarely made time for her, but Martha did, inviting her over and buying her expensive gifts. Martha, Ava, and King sit...