Holding On to Zoe

Sixteen-year-old Jules’s baby is the center of her world. Zoe is the reason she works long hours in the Toyota factory instead of going to high school. Damon said he would marry her, but then his mom sent him away, so it’s up to Jules to take care of Zoe. No one else gets it, not her mom, not her best friend, not even the doctors who told her that her ectopic pregnancy couldn’t result in the birth of a baby. But Jules knows that nothing matters except keeping Zoe safe from the “dark places” in the world. Jules’s story shifts between the time before and after Zoe, relating memories of high school, of lying in Damon’s arms, and of her mom, hard and unbending. In the present time, reality blurs as Jules attends “get-acquainted meetings” with Dr. Stapleton at Toyota, and the receptionist hands her “vitamins” in a paper cup. Mom doesn’t believe Zoe exists, but that just makes Jules hold onto her more tightly. Through the first-person narrative, Lyon portrays a troubled young woman from deep inside, maintaining the tight focus of Jules’s distorted perspective throughout the story. The only person Jules trusts is her therapist, who is always solicitous and tender with Zoe. Over the course of a few sessions, Dr. Douglas helps Jules unlock hidden memories and begin to heal. The quick uncovering of past trauma seems unrealistically condensed, but Jules’s emotional life feels real; even as her inner world breaks from the outside one, her primal need for love and safety resonates. lauren adams