Call Your Daughter Home

Edwin is the wealthiest plantation owner in the town of Branchville. To all appearances, he is a model citizen. Annie is his wife, and he has four surviving children. His eldest son, Buck, hanged himself when he was 12. Edwin’s two daughters blame him for the tragedy, but Edwin denies all wrongdoing and banishes the girls from his home. Annie sides with her husband and loses contact with her daughters. It isn’t until decades later that the truth about Edwin’s pedophilia is revealed. He sexually abused all his children and many more besides.

When Annie learns the truth, she publicly exposes her husband’s crimes. He reacts by trying to silence her, shooting Retta when she gets in the way. As Lonnie intervenes to protect his mother, Edwin then tries to shoot his son but is killed by Gertrude instead. His death makes it possible for Annie to reunite with all her children.

Lonnie is Edwin and Annie’s youngest son living. He lacks the confidence of his elder brother, Eddie, and his speech contains a pronounced stutter. Although he doubts himself, he is a gifted clothing designer and a good businessman. Lonnie helps Annie grow their Sewing Circle business and expands their enterprise out of state. Unlike Eddie, Lonnie defies his father whenever the latter tries to make him conform to expectations. He also tries to defend Annie when Edwin attacks her and nearly dies in the process. At the end of the story, Lonnie is free to come out from under his father’s shadow for the first time.

Eddie is Lonnie’s older brother. He is handsome, gregarious, and is being groomed to assume his father’s role in society someday. Although Eddie was abused like his siblings, he represses these experiences and follows his father’s orders without question. His father’s death releases him from the burden of living in Edwin’s shadow.

Molly is Lonnie is Edwin and Annie’s eldest daughter. She challenged her mother’s denial of Edwin’s behavior. Ultimately, she moves away and remains angry at Annie’s failure to see what was done to her children. Molly marries, has a child, and gets a job with a Charleston alderwoman. When she learns of her mother’s illness, she is willing to forgive past wrongs and rushes to Annie’s side.

Sarah is Annie’s younger daughter. She is gentler and more sensitive than Molly, and when Annie tries to reconnect with her daughters, she approaches Sarah first. Sarah is more eager to reestablish ties with Annie than Molly is, but she still harbors resentment, having told her daughters that their grandmother is dead. In the end, both siblings unite to protect their mother from Edwin. Annie eventually comes to live with Sarah’s family after Edwin’s death.

Gertrude is a young wife and mother who is determined to survive the hard life she experiences during the 1920s in the rural South. Annie describes her as a “slip of a girl with the scrap of a barn cat” (320). Gertrude was married off at the age of 14 to an abusive husband and had four daughters in quick succession. Now in her mid-twenties, she has to protect her daughters by killing her husband, Alvin, and finding work and a place to live to support her family.

Meanwhile, she is battling her guilt at killing her husband. Despite all these hurdles, Gertrude succeeds in stabilizing her life and defending Annie when the latter is threatened by her own husband. At the end of the novel, Gertrude inherits a small fortune from her abusive father-in-law and is able to make a better life for her children.

Alvin is Gertrude’s abusive husband. His own father was a bully, and Alvin learned how to behave from him. After the boll weevil destroyed his cotton crop, Alvin lost hope and turned to alcohol. One evening, as he staggers home drunk, Gertrude shoots him. After he falls dead in the swamp, his corpse is devoured by a female alligator and her numerous offspring. His malevolent ghost hovers around Gertrude but is never able to harm her.

Otto is Alvin’s father. He is wealthy but does nothing for his son or grandchildren. Otto has been married three times, but his second wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. When Alvin disappears, Otto immediately calls the sheriff and accuses Gertrude of murder. When she challenges him, Otto strikes Gertrude just as his son once did. By the end of the novel, Otto and his wife succumb to diphtheria, and his fortune is left to Gertrude and her daughters. The new highway coming through his land will make them even richer.

Edna is Gertrude’s 15-year-old daughter. She is skittish and claustrophobic because of Alvin’s abuse. Despite her dismal relationship with her father, she lies to Retta about how successful Alvin is. Under Retta’s tutelage, Edna develops some self-discipline. She proves to be a hard worker and earns the praise of both her mother and Retta. Her father’s death makes her future brighter.

Lily is Gertrude’s 13-year-old daughter. As her mother says, Lily “thinks she’s got grit, but she don’t” (12). The girl is defiant much of the time but runs for her mother’s protection whenever trouble appears. Lily gets sexually involved with Harlan Barker, a boy she was warned against. When she becomes pregnant, Gertrude immediately marries her off to Harlan. Lily’s future looks bleak, but Gertrude seeks to reconnect with her by the end of the story.

Mary is Gertrude’s youngest daughter. When the novel begins, she is six years old, emaciated, and suffering from intestinal worms. Retta takes charge of Mary for a few days and brings her back to health. The child becomes one of Edwin’s prospective victims, but Retta and Gertrude’s interference prevents any harm from coming to her. She forms a strong attachment to Retta and regains her strength and energy by the time the novel concludes.

Alma is Gertrude’s 10-year-old daughter. She spends much of her time with Mary after the family is reunited and is allowed to go to school along with her younger sibling. At Homecoming Camp, Edwin lures her into the woods and puts his hand under her skirt, but Gertrude interrupts him before he can abuse her further.

Berns is Gertrude’s long-suffering brother. His wife has health issues, but he takes on the responsibility of caring for Edna, Lily, and Alma while Gertrude finds a job and a place to live. He is kind and cares about his sister but is helpless to interfere while Alvin is alive. He infers that Gertrude killed Alvin but doesn’t judge her for doing so. Berns and his wife succumb to diphtheria, and both die by the end of the novel.

Marie is the wife of Berns. Like her husband, she is kind-hearted. Because she is a seamstress at Sewing Circle, she alerts Gertrude immediately when a position opens up. She is proud and supportive of Gertrude’s work when she joins the staff. Marie dies of diphtheria shortly before her husband.