The Last of the Moon Girls

Lizzy has to decide whether she will preserve her family’s traditions or become “the last of the Moon Girls” (365). For generations, Moon women have lived according to rigid expectations: They don’t marry, and they are expected to remain in the town of Salem Creek, maintaining the Moon Girl Farm and providing spiritual healing services to the community. In the end, Lizzy must choose which traditions to accept and which to reject as she struggles to be true to herself while preserving the positive aspects of her family’s heritage.

The first Moon woman to come to America from France in 1786 was Sabine. After being betrayed by the father of her child, she made an “edict that no Moon allow themselves to be enslaved by marriage, lest they be betrayed and the line ended” (30). This expectation sets the Moon women apart from the community around them. Late in the novel, Lizzy discovers from Althea’s journal that her grandmother struggled with this tradition. Althea obeyed the tradition and refused to marry the man she loved, Peter, but she secretly regretted this decision for the rest of her life. Before learning about her grandmother’s regrets, Lizzy does her best to abide by the tradition that defines her family, eschewing close relationships and serious romances. Instead, she focuses on her career and only dates casually. Lizzy makes choices in her life based on tradition, not on what is best for her. In the end, she chooses to abandon this tradition and marry Andrew. Althea encourages her to follow her truth, even if it means breaking tradition.

Another Moon family tradition is working the land that Sabine purchased more than two centuries ago. Evvie argues that “[h]ome is in your blood. It’s not just where you live, it’s who you are” (270). Lizzy does not identify with Salem Creek, where many residents are bigoted against her family because they are different. For most of the novel, Lizzy is determined to sell the land and escape the negativity and prejudice. In the end, it isn’t the land itself that inspires her to stay. She says, “They’re a part of my story—and I’m part of theirs. I don’t think I understood that until today. They’re my legacy. Not this place—not the buildings or the land—the women” (374). When Lizzy tries to pack up the magical journals of her ancestors, she feels their presence. It is this presence that convinces her to stay; the Moon women are part of her truth.

Being a Moon woman means doing healing work in the Salem Creek community. This is the legacy that Lizzy most easily accepts. She immediately feels good when she gives out some migraine tea to Penny, an old customer of Althea’s. She also uses Althea’s recipe to make soap for another customer. When Lizzy blesses the soap, she feels a “fizzy sort of vibration humming in her bones, like the ripple of current through water. It [i]s a heady sensation, so intoxicating it nearly ma[kes] her giddy” (235). This sensation lets Lizzy know that she is doing what she was meant to do. Lizzy’s healing work is a calming experience, healing for herself as well as her customers. She recognizes that following this tradition is part of being true to herself.

Because Althea regrets following the rules of the Moon family too inflexibly, she avoids passing down strict rules to Lizzy. Instead, she advises Lizzy to make her own decisions about which traditions are right for her. In the journal, Althea says, “No one should write your story but you” (16). Lizzy has to find her own way on the Path that her family follows. Althea warns, “It won’t be easy. Stepping into the light never is, but it’s what we’re all called to do. To find our truth—whatever that may be—and live it without apology” (367). By marrying Andrew, Lizzy breaks with tradition to write her own story. Her story also includes honoring her ancestors by continuing with their healing work and helping people. In this way, she follows tradition. To be truthful, tradition and personal choice have to intersect.