Romantic Themes

• Anne spends time alone with Gilbert before they are married, and they are described as talking in “lover-fashion." (recurring)

Gender Relations

• An unrelated man and woman dance together. (p.99)
• A man and woman meet privately and briefly kiss. (p.213)

Language/Crude Imagery

• The community’s minister is called “a reverend jackass.” (p.48)

Heavy Content

• Anne’s close friend describes the death of her younger brother in detail. (p. 71, 127)
• A daughter describes her father’s suicide. (p.71-72)

Blasphemy/Irreverence

• A character makes an irreverent comment about God, “he probably knew how to run His universe quite as well as we do.” (p. 87)
• Anne makes several irreverent comments about God while racked with anguish and grief brought on by the death of her newborn baby, questioning God’s reasoning, will and ultimate power. (p. 117)

Theology

• A character blames Eve, i.e. all women, for the mischief in the world, which is a Biblical perspective that does not match the Muslim understanding of the world or the story of Prophet Adam and Lady Eve eating from the tree. (p. 162)