“The year I spent in Italy meant so much to me, and I want you to have that same experience.”

A dying Hadley wants to ensure that her daughter, now 16, who she knows she will never see grow up, has the chance to undo the mistake she made when she went to Florence—the same experience, but with a different outcome. Make the right choice, she seems to be telling Lina. Choose love.

“How was it possible that someone who hadn’t even met me had managed to put together my perfect bedroom?”

The connection between Howard Mercer and Lina is not biological even though, for most of the book, Lina believes it is. Seeing her perfectly appointed bedroom, set up just for her by a man she’s never met, is her first indication that what ties her to Howard may be more than biology.

“I hated being called quiet. People always said it like it was some kind of deficiency—like just because I didn’t put everything out there right away, I was unfriendly or arrogant. My mom had understood. You may be slow to warm up, but once you do, you light up the whole room.”

The novel is the story of Lina’s coming of age. In that process, she moves away from her childhood identity as aloof, introspective, and unconnected. The experience in Italy opens her up to Howard, to her friends at the new school, to Ren, and ultimately to her mother.