The Last of the Moon Girls

“A body that’s been submerged in water undergoes a different kind of decomposition: harsher in some ways, kinder in others—or so I’ve been told.”

This is the first line of the novel and is from the first-person perspective of Althea. Davis uses the first-person only in the Prologue, in the Book of Remembrances, in Althea’s letters, in Lizzy’s journal, and in the Epilogue. Narratively, these lines establish the murder mystery that Lizzy solves.

“We do need to go home from time to time, but only to remind us why we left in the first place, so we can get clear on what we do want.”

This develops the character of Luc. He runs his late mother’s company, Chenier Fragrances, and benefits from Lizzy’s supernatural talent with scents, but he doesn’t see the connection between the Moon Girl Farm’s rural apothecary and his sophisticated New York fashion business. As a New Yorker, he sees a farm in New Hampshire as a place to visit and then leave. Being an urban success is his goal, and it is one that he wants Lizzy to embrace as her goal as well.

“Everyone’s got a right to go looking for themselves, but once they manage it, they should come back home and deal with what’s past, look things squarely in the eye.”

This is Evvie’s thought on returning home, which can be contrasted with Luc’s in the previous quote. Evvie sees leaving home as a rite of passage rather than a long-term goal. She wants Lizzy to follow the family tradition, developing The Tension Between Tradition and Personal Choice.