Taylor Greer has many trials and tribulations that she must .

             This essay is going to discuss Taylor"s.

             trials and tribulations within the novel.

             Taylor (born Marietta) grew up in Pittman, Kentucky, a small .

             rural town where families "had kids just about as fast as they could .

             fall down the well and drown" and a boy with a job as a gas-meter .

             man was considered a "high-class catch." She needs to get out to .

             get ahead and to avoid pregnancy. She succeeds on both accounts .

             when she buys a '55 Volkswagen and heads west. She leaves .

             almost everything behind, including her name (Taylor is the name she .

             adopts when she runs out of gas in Taylorville, Illinois). When her .

             steering fails somewhere in central Oklahoma, in a country owned by .

             the Cherokee nation, she stops for repairs at a roadside service .

             station. A Cherokee woman looks at Taylor and sees a chance for .

             her dead sister's child to escape a life of abuse and alcoholism. She .

             hands the child over to Taylor and disappears. Taylor's journey of .

             self-discovery suddenly becomes a transition into a relationship .

             where she is not the most important person. .

             Taylor and her adopted child, Turtle travel to Tucson, Arizona, .

             where more car troubles land them at a shop known as Jesus Is Lord .

             Used Tires. The owner of this odd establishment is a woman named .

             Mattie, a serene, big-hearted soul who shelters political refugees from .

             Guatemala, and who gives Taylor a much needed job. .

             Taylor and Turtle find a room with Lou Ann Ruiz, a self-described .

             "ordinary Kentuckian a long way from home," and her newborn baby .

             Dwayne Ray. The relationship between these two single mothers, .

             one never married, one divorcing, and their relationships with the .

             people around them are the focus of the story. After a few months, .

             Taylor needs to rent an apartment. She ends up sharing an .

             apartment with Lou Ann and her son, Dwayne Ray. Together Taylor, .

             Turtle, Mattie, two refugees, Lou Ann and Dwayne Ray learn about .