Ann Patchett explores motherhood through Lara’s relationship with her daughters, particularly the eldest, Emily. Lara and Emily’s troubles go back to Emily’s infatuation with Peter Duke, which began when she was 14 years old, and continued for several years. During that time, Emily became convinced that Duke, who had dated Lara one summer, was actually her father, and that Lara was keeping them from one another. Lara recognizes that what was really behind Emily’s obsession with Duke was the need to individuate: “She was telling me how sick she was of us, that she hated being a teenager, hated her body, didn’t want to be stuck on a cherry orchard, […] But she didn’t have words for any of that” (34). Emily’s trouble separating herself from her mother is symbolized by her name—named after the role that was Lara’s triumph in the theater and a character Lara associates deeply with herself, Emily struggled not to be a mirror of her mother’s youth.

Years since Emily’s obsession, the family still tiptoes around the topic of Duke. When Maisie and Lara discover the news about Duke’s death, they are afraid to tell Emily. Lara, in particular, feels that although her relationship with Emily had been repaired, “expertly, repeatedly, this lumpy seam remains between us” (101).