The author of this work examines how gender systems cut across religious belief, showing the proscription of women's 'sinful natures' and men's 'natural sins'.
Talkative, ten-year-old Rebecca goes to live with her spinster aunts, one harsh and demanding, the other soft and sentimental, and spends seven difficult but rewarding years growing up in their company.
The complex story of family with links to crime. The novel is set amongst the African American society of the eastern seaboard and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school. Chicago, 1995.
When discovered, their relationship brings disgrace to Amy's mother, Isabelle, and intensifies the shame she feels for her own past. In a fury, she lashes out at her daughter's beauty and then retreats into outraged silence.