Granny
This is a novel about four generations of women in a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the latter half of the 20th century. Granny is the matriarch of the clan. She’s a constant hummer whose only real vice is an obsessive addiction to the sweetness of an ice-cold bottle of Dr. Pepper. An equally persistent attraction to greasy food has made her nails as well as her knuckles perpetually shiny. She and her daughter still share a bedroom.
Lula
Lula is Granny’s bedroom partner and they share more than that. Lula’s father was a white and terminally abusive to his wife. Lula’s husband was an equal disappointment, having at some time in the past decided to up and disappear along with everything in the bank account they shared. Notably, he chooses not to take off with any of his daughters in tow. Lula suffers from epilepsy but seems doomed to forever be victimized since there is no mention in the Book of Deuteronomy of Moses bringing drugs to treat the condition into the wilderness.
Justine
Justine is Lula’s 15-year-old daughter. She earned the nicknamed Teeny as a result of her sister Josie not being able to fully pronounce her name. She is a typically rebellious teen and keeps a secret treasure trove of forbidden objects hidden away that includes things like Rolling Stone magazines and a mood ring. Among her favorite secret possessions is also a picture of her mother as drop-dead gorgeous teenager looking like a Native American version of Marilyn Monroe. The result of being raped produces the fourth generation: a daughter named Reney.
Reney
The story is not just a tale about a multi-generational family, but also a multi-generational tale about a family. The story reaches far enough into the future to tell of Renay growing up, getting married, working a job at the Dairy Queen, and the desperate search for her beloved lost mule, Rosalee, which ends in a violent moment of epiphany and transformation.
