Summary

The next chapter is titled “islands.” It begins with a reproduction of a communication that Doyle received asking her advice on how the mother of a young gay woman should handle the impending visit of the mother’s religiously conservative parents. Doyle outlines her response, starting with Abby’s metaphorical comparison of their love, and their family’s love, to life on an island on which no fear is allowed, only love. This then leads the author to a contemplation of her relationship with her own mother, who at times manifested her love for Doyle’s children in fear – for example, fear of how they might be treated at school once other children learned about Doyle’s relationship with Abby. For a while, Doyle says, she struggled with her mother and with her mother’s opinions, but then realized that she was letting...