Table of Contents
Prologue ii
Part I The girl in the trailer
1 It Always Started with Dirt 19
2 You Have to Dig Down to Get to the Good Part 29
3 A Tiny Shift in Words That Changes Everything 39
4 Marked for Hard Things 51
5 It Was Always in Our Blood 61
6 Something Not Always Seen but Felt 73
7 These Scars We Bear 85
8 Leaving Is a Suitcase 97
9 None of It Ever Made Her Feel More Real 109
10 The Scars That Stitch Us Back Together Again 119
Interlude 133
Part II The girl after the trailer
11 A Ship Sailing toward a Distant Shore 137
12 Stories Change Stories 151
13 Belonging Is a Gray J. Crew Sweater 163
14 A Constellation of Complicated 177
15 Substance over Surface 191
16 The Heavy Chains We Never Asked to Bear 201
17 Not Even Real Dirt 209
18 Its Safe Now for You to Rest 219
19 Grace Is a Root Word 229
20 The Broken Was Part of the Plan All Along 239
21 At Last Freedom Takes Root and Comes Home 251
Epilogue 259
Author Note 261
Acknowledgments 263