One Came Home

The lives of the female characters in One Came Home are heavily influenced by the roles others assign to them and the weight of social expectations. Through the futures envisioned for Agatha and Georgie, as well as how the two girls respond to these futures, the novel explores how the pressure of societal expectations influences whether each girl ultimately accepts or rejects the path laid out for her. As young women in 1871, they are subject to the authority of their grandfather, who is the senior male in their household. 

Their grandfather expects both girls to play critical roles in their families and communities, and he determines these roles based on each girl’s perceived strengths. Georgie’s responsible nature, aptitude for business, and head for numbers lead her grandfather to believe that she is an ideal candidate to take over the family store. To prepare her, he involves her in the store’s daily operations, and Georgie finds herself performing agreeable tasks such as bookkeeping and less pleasant ones like scrubbing pigeon droppings off the building. Georgie takes pride in the work and enjoys her success as a salesperson. As a result of the sense of competence and usefulness this work gives her, Georgie feels she is contributing to the family and the community; in turn, she doesn’t question her assigned role or the expectations laid out for her by her grandfather and, by extension, the townspeople.