Abuse
The novel's main characters and protagonists, Kaeleigh and Raeanne, are subject to tremendous abuse at the hands of their father. When they were young, the girls and their father were involved in a terrible car accident. As a result of that car accident, their father developed a guilty conscience and decided to make up for it in a perverse way: by sexually abusing Kaeleigh, who becomes "daddy's favorite" daughter. Despite taking an oath affirming that he protects and serves the people in his life (especially his family) because of his job as a judge, the girl's father commits unspeakable horrors as a way to assuage his guilty conscience.
The abuse makes the girls turn to illicit substances and causes Kaeleigh to cut herself and develop an eating disorder. Their lives, as well as the life of their mother, are turned upside down because of their father's abuse. In fact, the novel's twist—that Kaeleigh has developed Dissociative identity disorder and manifested the Raeanne persona to deal with her abuse—comes about as a direct result of Kaeleigh's father's abuse. This shows the damaging effects of trauma on a young person's mind and the sheer depravity of some people's behavior.
Coping mechanisms
Kaeleigh, Raeanne, and their mother develop coping mechanisms to deal with the traumatic, sometimes violent, environment in their home. On one hand, the girl's mother, an aspiring politician, turns to alcohol to deal with her inner turmoil and the abuse occurring in her house. She also becomes incredibly isolated and doesn't involve herself in her own home out of fear of falling out of favor with her husband. Raeanne does the same things: she turns to alcohol, drugs, painkillers, and risky sex to numb her pain and as a way to cope with her home life. On the other hand, Kaeleigh goes in an entirely different direction. To cope with her sexual abuse and other related trauma, Kaeleigh begins to cut herself and starts to binge eat. She wants nothing more than to feel alive and in control of her own body and mind; her cutting and binge eating give her some semblance of control. Although the novel showcases unhealthy coping mechanisms, it makes the case that healthy coping mechanisms can only be developed in a healthy environment and with a tremendous amount of work.
