Brief Summary:
Being a teenager is hard enough, but 14-year-old Laney has a muscle disorder called dystonia which shows by a hunch on her shoulder. On top of her strained relationship with her mother and her dad in an institution, Laney is having a difficult time moving to Mississippi because not only is she the new girl, but she also has a deformity making her an outcast. During all the craziness around her, Laney meets and becomes friends with Maribel, who is also an outcast because of her religious family and the fact that she was home-schooled for most of her life. With the help of Maribel, Laney explores Christianity and her sexuality which leads Laney’s atheist mother to disapprove of this newfound friendship.
Character Breakdown
Laney Waters – 14-year-old female. Very intelligent. Laney enjoys writing short stories and hopes to be a writer. She has dystonia (disorder in which a person’s muscles contract and she has no control over it). Because of this, her shoulder has the appearance of a hunch, and because of this she is an outcast at her new school.
Elise Waters – Female in her 40s. Laney’s mother, yet she finds it difficult to connect with her daughter. Working through issues of her own after having to institutionalize her husband (Laney’s father). She was once a social worker but is now currently unemployed.
Maribel Purdy – 16-year-old female. Slightly chubby. Behind in school and taking freshman classes because her mother homeschooled her. Very religious. Believes that she can help save Laney with the power of Christ. Convinced she has stigmata (ability to feel the wounds of Christ on her own body)