And in general, the residents of the town wondered why they all felt hollow just beneath the throat, the result of missing something they had never been able to name in the first place.

Things don't always look as they seem.

Maybe mothers - consciously or subconsciously - repelled their daughters in different ways.

You can't exist in this world without leaving a piece of yourself behind.

Being a good mother, it seemed to me, meant you ran the risk of losing your child.

I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. You didn't get past something like that, you got through it.

They don't like the thought of someone else making demands on the person whom they see as belonging entirely to them.