Belonging

Latisha Walker, granddaughter of Rose Walker, has returned home after completing three semesters at Yale. Her intent was to complete a law degree paid for by a generous gift from Miss Em, the elderly woman, now deceased, who had chosen Latisha as the last subject to paint in her long lucrative career as an artist. In the same spirit of community that thrived in Under the Fig Tree, those who love Latisha surround her with love and support as she begins a search for her mother, a woman she never knew, nor heretofore had cared to learn about.

While at Yale, Latisha-now called Tish-met a fellow law-prep student, Grant Adams, with whom she became friends. Invited to his home for Thanksgiving, Tish was grilled by his politicized Washington-employed parents, people who came from old money. Up to this point in her life, Tish had experienced only minor confrontations related to race; here she encountered a different kind of prejudice, an unspoken, but clear rejection. She had been truly loved by those in her circle, especially her grandmother Rose, Liz, Richard, Jackson, Luann, her peers Maddie and Maria, her father and his wife, LaMont and Callie. While with Grant's parents she began to think of herself as a person without a pedigree. She had never asked the questions Where is my mother? Where do I belong? and between the Thanksgiving visit and Christmas holiday, much soul-searching led her to the decision to drop out of school and go on a search for her mother.

Her search leads her to the strange-to-her world of Tunica Resorts, a casino town just an hour away from Roslyn. The answers she finds lead to more questions, despair, and heartbreak. She turns to the good people of Roslyn, her longtime friendship with Maddie and a newly-developed friendship with Colene, a young veterinarian hired by Rob, Luann's husband. Urged on by Colene, Tish begins working in the Batesville Vet Clinic. This leads to a renewed love of writing short pieces, using the animals she cares for as material for her stories. She finds peace in the rhythm of a regular workday and hanging out with friends, but recognizes that she's coasting.

With the distance between them, both she and Grant realize how deep their friendship has become in the short time they were together and that neither of them wants to let it go. Both become dissatisfied with communication by texts, emails, and phone calls, and Grant visits Roslyn, where he finds the same kind of acceptance that Tish grew up with. This causes him to fall in love with Roslyn and its people.

Tish's struggle includes a crisis of faith; she has been brought up in church by Rose and loved the people, music, and rituals of her experience. As a young adult she now feels no connection to the God of her childhood, and deeply questions the existence of a loving God. How could God allow a mother to abandon her child as an infant? She finds great peace in The Room, a space constructed by Brother Paul, Liz's friend and advisor, and often retreats there. Still, questions haunt her. She turns to Cindy, the larger-than-life teenager in Under the Fig Tree. Cindy, still grieving after many years of life without Lainie, uses the wisdom she has gained during those years to listen deeply to Tish, offering her guidance while not providing pat answers.

Belonging, the second novel in the Roslyn trilogy, is a true coming-of-age story and leaves Tish with both unanswered questions and some direction. Change does not come quickly when life's questions are deep, as this story demonstrates. Belonging opens the door for the third and final novel in the trilogy.