She's haunted by the pronouncement of a palm reader she once visited: "The fruit of your womenfolk is tarnished. This puts her marriage on shaky ground, in part because she cannot bear to reveal the dark secrets of her family. After suffering a few miscarriages, she realizes she doesn't want a child. January's cousin Lydia escaped sexual abuse, but not the sick dynamics of the Turner family. And I make it perfect, too, like something in a department store that ain't never posed to be slept in." Soon as I climb out, I turn around and fix my mess. Watkins deftly captures the fresh cadence of January's voice, as in this passage that shows the determination with which she faces every task: "I make my bed every morning soon as I get up. January is a Bible-focused mother who dreams of attending college and forging a better life, but she's hampered by lack of resources and panicked hypervigilance caused by childhood trauma. Watkins elucidates the complex fallout from Wayne's birth by moving back and forth through time and introducing the perspectives of other family members, including two grandchildren, January and Lydia, who are drawn back to Jerusalem to visit elderly Helen Jean on her deathbed.
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