How It All Goes Down
Our tale begins right before our leading lady is born. A tornado touches down in a field that a very pregnant Patience is working with, sparing her and the other women working, against all odds. Shortly thereafter, Patience gives birth to a baby girl named Abyssinia, and given her incredible fortune in surviving, well, we're thinking this baby's going to be kind of a big deal.
Growing up, Abyssinia—or Abby, for short—does pretty typical kid stuff. She has a best friend named Lily Norene; she does well in school; she dazzles her church congregation with her angelic voice. In addition to two loving parents (Patience and Strong), Abby is also treated like a daughter by Mother Barker, the healer everyone turns to for help in Ponca City and a leader of the local women.
It isn't all rainbows and unicorns, though, and one day a tornado rips through town, making two particularly terrible things happen. Her father, Strong's, business is destroyed and he loses his mind and leaves Abby and Patience; and a local woman named Trembling Sally goes completely bonkers and starts blaming Abby for the tornado that swept away her home.
It's pretty hard having Strong up and leave, and financial trouble as well as some serious soul-searching ensues. But Trembling Sally sets off on a vendetta against Abby that threatens to pretty much ruin her—Trembling Sally wants this girl dead something fierce, and she has a real knack for getting her alone. Unfortunately, Trembling Sally isn't the only one who has it out for Abby; she is raped by a deacon in her church. She goes mute until Trembling Sally comes along and fills the house with wasps, frightening Abby's voice back to life.
Over the months following the wasp incident, Abby continues to heal, finally getting out of bed after a flood comes and local families—including some of Abby's friends—seek respite in her home. While playing a game with her friends, Abby dares to swing her legs out of bed; everybody is delighted to find that they hold her.
While walking home one hot summer day, Abby decides to treat herself to a swim. Bummer for her, Trembling Sally's on her scent, and when the girl comes up for air, Sally's right there, ready to hold her head under water in hopes of drowning her. In a stroke of incredible luck, Strong suddenly returns at this moment and saves his daughter's life. Phew. Things are looking up, it seems.
After graduating at the top of her class, Abby, who is interested in becoming a doctor, finds there are no medical schools around for her to attend. Mother Barker, who is the local midwife and folk healer, takes Abby under her wing, teaching her everything she knows about medicine and healing. When she dies, she leaves her house to Abby, and Abby steps into her shoes as the go-to healing resource for everyone in town.
Remember that childhood best friend of Abby's, Lily Norene? Well, things don't turn out so well for her. She winds up getting married to a horribly abusive man. Abby makes house calls and tries to heal her old friend, but she can't get her away from her husband and Lily Norene winds up having a stroke and dying. And then, while Abby's watching her friend's newly orphaned children, Trembling Sally comes along and burns their house down. Abby and Lily's daughters narrowly escape, and Sally gets eaten by the flames she's been spreading.
As the book ends, Abby and the women in town gather to sew bedspreads for Lily Norene's children. As they chat and sew, Abby comes to recognize the continuity across generations, realizing that just as she learned at the hip from her mother and Mother Barker, so, too, will Lily's children learn at her hip. Recognizing the unending power of women, Abby begins to truly come into her own, and with that, that book ends.