Her Shadow, Her Sister
Will the protagonist defeat or overcome her shadow-side antagonist or do we have a braided narrative in which each has her inner shadow and each finds her way to adult consciousness?
Beginning the End
In the final scenes of the novel, Mariah and Eliza begin a journey that will test their maturity and at the same time, interrogate their society. This journey is not a struggle with themselves alone.
Coming of Age: In the Mirror
Bildungsroman, the coming-of-age story, is a powerful cultural idea. How does The Compromise deliver on the cultural expectation of this genre?
Solemnity and Joy
How solemn is The Compromise? I don’t expect it to be a tome or a tomb, but there are stories that involve death. Often elderly people, like my mother, keep their sense of humor to the end, and so does this novel. Love and humor might help me find the secular balance I need. Let’s…
The Chambered Heart
A huntress knows the heart has four chambers. They open and close as long as there is life. There are sections of The Compromise about love and family that are quiet but tense. Aware of their fragility, I work long and hard to breathe life into them. Image: The hart. Lithograph of Kashmir stag by…