Each of the novel’s chapters is the title of a piece of literature, a book or short story whose narrative parallels the Fikry narrative.

Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter,” reflects Nic’s death: because of her gentleness and innocence, she is the tale’s proverbial “slaughtered lamb.” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Diamond as Big as the Ritz can be seen as ironic: In the tale, the rich refuse to give up their lifestyles, no matter the cost, and here A.J. at first refuses to change his sedentary, bitter lifestyle.

Bret Harte’s “The Luck of Roaring Camp”—a story that follows the unlikely success of a mining camp that adopts a child—closely mirrors A.J.’s own adoption success story. And in Richard Bausch’s “What Feels Like the World,” the little girl and grandfather are stand-ins for Maya and A.J. The grandfather’s investment in his granddaughter’s success and happiness is similar in intensity to A.J.’s own investment in Maya.

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is both a chapter title and Amelia’s favorite short story. For Amelia, a good man is hard to find; the same can be said for Ismay. Additionally, A.J.’s family vacation to the topiary garden goes “awry” much like the family’s vacation in O’Connor’s story (103).