LoveGrove, an Ontario- based writer, was raised as a Jehovah until she was 14 years old. In interviews, LoveGrove has said that the story is not autobiographical, but the setting is familiar to her. Jehovah’s Witnesses are tremendously insular and isolated, which is part of what makes this novel so intriguing.
Because of her experiences growing up within the Church, LoveGrove is able to provide the reader a glimpse into this strange and unfamiliar world. The book’s story revolves around a young Jehovah’s Witness named Emily. Emily has been raised within the Church and knows little else.
Her mother is a reluctant Jehovah, and her father aspires to rise through the ranks of the Church. Emily’s sister Lenora is a teenager, and she’s having her own difficulties with the religion. She becomes increasingly secretive and is spending time with “worldly” people; those not in the Church.