“People say there’s nothing like a mother’s love. Take that away, you’ll find there’s nothing like a daughter’s hate.”

The novel’s opening lines immediately undermine any assumptions the reader might have about maternal love, signaling that the narrative will think about the difficulties and harsh realities of the mother-daughter relationship. The first sentences thus lay the groundwork for Reimagining the Expectations of Motherhood.

“The cut and shape and feel of the cool metal in her hands bring comfort. She likes to push individual keys into the tips of her fingers until they hurt and leave a mark. Feeling something—even pain—is better than feeling nothing at all.”

Here, Feeney characterizes Frankie through the mundane objects that Frankie interacts with. This passage gives insight into both Frankie’s numbness in the months after her daughter’s departure and the self-destructive tendencies that begin to manifest during this time.

“Prisons come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes we build our own without realizing.”

At this stage of the novel, Edith’s comment seems to be an observation about her living arrangements at the care home. However, this notion of self-created prisons becomes a central symbolic lens for understanding how Edith, Clio, Frankie, and Patience have all limited their own growth by making assumptions about what they can/can’t achieve; they have not yet learned to capitalize on The Plurality of Identity.