The prologue sets up the main concerns of the novel and ends with the idea that “The landscapes of our youths create us, and we carry them within us, storied by all they gave and stole, in who we become” (4). What ideas about place and identity are depicted in the novel?

The novel is a work of historical fiction inspired by the true events of the flooding of Iola. How do the novel’s time period and setting reveal its themes?

Victoria and Wil have very different ideas of the concept of “home.” How does Victoria’s concept of home change in the novel in comparison to Wil’s?