Fifteen-year-old Theresa is an only child of middle-class
parents who live in the Hamptons in the hope that their beautiful daughter will
land a wealthy husband. She has been
ushered into adulthood a bit too fast, having become a popular babysitter and
dog-walker almost as soon as her age reached double-digits. During the summer in which this novel takes
place she has also taken on care of her 8-year-old cousin, Daisy, who
accompanies Theresa as she walks from house to house and performs her
duties. One of Theresa’s charges is
Flora, a toddler, who is routinely left on the porch in her stroller for
Theresa to pick up, take to the beach, provide lunch, bathe, and
entertain. More alluring than Flora,
though, is her father, a successful artist in his 70s. Two aspects of Theresa’s life drive this
novel: the not-so-subtle advances
Flora’s father makes toward Theresa and the worrisome bruises on Daisy’s body
that beg for medical attention.
Theresa’s responses to both of these situations are problematic. In both cases, I felt that she made the wrong
decisions and that she was a foolish teenager, but then I had to rethink my
opinions and ask myself if perhaps her choices were not so unwise. There are arguments to be made on both sides,
and I love how the author does not provide consequences or pass judgment but
just allows us readers to draw our own conclusions.
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