Content warning: This section of the guide discusses child abuse and drug addiction.

“Lexi had spent a lifetime waiting for those few precious words. Her world had always been dangerous, uncertain, a ship heading for the shoals. She had grown up mostly alone, among strangers, a modern-day feral child fighting for scraps of food and attention, never receiving enough of either. Most of it she’d blocked out entirely, but when she tried—when one of the State shrinks made her try—she could remember being hungry, wet, reaching out for a mother who was too high to hear her or too strung out to care. She remembered sitting for days in a dirty playpen, crying, waiting for someone to remember her existence.”

This poignant image shows readers what Lexi has gone through in her young life and how desperately she needs love and care. It introduces the theme of The Power of Motherhood and foreshadows Lexi’s craving to be part of a family since she never got the chance while growing up in the foster care system. This passage gives a clear picture of what Lexi has gone through, allowing readers to better understand her character development as the plot progresses.

“Most of the kids at Pine High lived on the island, and, really, the other side of the bridge was a whole different world. Geographically, only about three hundred feet separated Pine Island from Port George, but there were many ways to calculate distance. Port George was where nice, upstanding boys from Pine Island went to buy beer and cigarettes at the minimart, using fake IDs they made on old magic cards.”

This passage demonstrates the literal and symbolic differences between Lexi’s world and the Farradays’. Lexi must work a part-time job and save up for her college, yet Mia and Zach don’t have to worry about money in any way. Likewise, Lexi is limited in opportunities, while Jude worries a which prestigious college her twins will attend. This difference in background and upbringing plays a significant role in the interactions between Lexi and the Farradays after the car accident, demonstrating the way Kristin Hannah explores socioeconomic disparity in the novel.

“The magnitude of what she’d almost done knocked the breath from her. He didn’t even like her, and, worse than that, he wasn’t available for her. Jude had made that clear; so had Mia. And Mia was what mattered, not some useless, baseless crush on a boy who fell in love with a different girl every week.”

In this passage, Hannah establishes a central conflict of Part 1. Lexi is in a challenging position relating to how she feels about Zach and her devotion to Mia.