Unto Swine

There's something about Mrs. Patterson, the way the old lady always checks on Jade, asking about her classes and her babysitting job. High school counselors in Oak Grove don't care about kids like Jade - the sort of kid who lives in a camper with her ex-con dad. Those kids don't ask for help with career planning and college applications. Those kids are just an acceptable dropout rate.

But what if Mrs. Patterson knew Jade's mother, Ruby? Of course she did. In small Texas towns like these, strangers know your family history better than you do. And for some reason, Ruby was special to Mrs. Patterson. The old lady even has Ruby's journal. She's kept that Trapper Keeper for years, waiting for Jade to be ready.

Now Jade is reading the words her mother wrote so long ago, hoping she might finally understand. It's not like Jade doesn't know the facts about what happened to her mother. She knows more than anyone. She wants to know why.

Jade's last memories of her mother are locked in a voiceless place inside her, a dark well of pain. Now they're illuminated by the telling of Ruby's story, Jade's story, in Ruby's own words. Reading this journal could taint Jade's dreamlike memories of her lost mother forever. But will it help her understand why her mother just gave up, and abandoned her to the Jennings family?

Jade is forced to reimagine everything she thought she knew about her mother, her family, and herself. She's wondering if she'll ever find an adult she can trust, or a voice for the silent pain locked in her memory.