Epigraph

At a quick glance, the epigraph hints that in chapter one, a unifying family member dies. This impacts the lives of the others permanently, much like a hive that loses their queen. In chapter one, Lily describes the day her mother died as a distant memory yet she is still affected by the loss. "I worried so much about how I looked and whether I was doing things right, I felt half the time I was impersonating a girl instead of really being one," thought Lily. Just as worker bees struggle to adjust, Lily finds it difficult to “fit in” because she does not have a mother figure to guide her through the important stages of a young woman’s development.