I was initially drawn to this book because of the beautifully crafted writing style. The first two pages describing the main character watching the news had me riveted. I immediately needed to know more about the story behind the emotions that were evoked by the simple event. You are pulled back and forth between three separate periods of time through the eyes of Tallulah James. You experience events through the eyes of a child and then gain clarity as she grows up. Her childhood is far from easy and there are some very heavy subject matters addressed over the course of the story. Racism, mental illness, parental roles and responsibilities, murder, suicide...all things that adults struggle to understand.