Bennett's novel traces the story of three young people: Nadia, a young independent girl with a promising future and a secret; Luke, an adult pastor's kid who still bears the weight of this "duty"; Nadia, the "good Christian girl" who showed up at church one day and barely left. And the Mothers...named and unnamed, always watching, sometimes judging, but always yearning to instill their wisdom and wondering about their own choices.

Bennett traces the heavy themes of "what if" throughout this novel, and it's painful at times to see because we can relate to our own whatifs that can keep us awake at night. Bennett's character development of her main characters is true and steady, and the intertwining theme of the different types of mothers/mothering/mentoring we experience (some good, some bad) shows that none of us are exempt from "good" and "bad" and "absent" mothers and influences. We are all daughters who turn into mothers, whether we have biological children or not - we care for those among us because it's our nature...some of us do it well, and some of us don't. But we all mother and have a mothering influence - it's a thing that cannot be divorced from being a woman.

Bennett's writing is beautiful and true, and I imagine there were a lot of themes/notions I didn't pick up on in this book. I can't believe this was her first novel, (I'm pretty sure this is her first) and I'm hoping to read more from her.