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This is the story of an entitled person. She is one-dimensional, self-centered, and readers are ready to hate her. Then, as the story unfolds, readers develop pity for her. She lacks self-reflection and seems completely incapable of it. "Entitled," in this case, means to lack the ability to see from any other viewpoint and feel all-deserving.
The main character, Meredith Cunningham-Browne, thinks, "Boss Brady, telling her the rules. Who does he think he is anyway?" Brady is, in fact, the person she is dependent on for taking her in. Cunningham-Browne isn't a horrible person but a train wreck of social ineptitude. She is given everything until she marries a man that lies, cheats, and steals to please her and then loses it all, leaving her holding an empty bag and a pile of debts. Scott describes the main character's dawning, "In some recesses of her mind, she knew there were homeless people . . . never really given a thought about how they got to be without a roof over their head." Cunningham-Browne dismisses them until she is one of them.
What is most impressive about this novel is that the author allows readers to come to their own conclusions. Scott guides readers to feel compassion, without once telling them to feel sorry for Cunningham-Browne, who is a horrible, narcissistic once-millionaire. The description of class struggle and the basic fact that homelessness is not a problem that society can continue to ignore are both well laid out and clear without a hint of preaching. The subject matter is timely and deftly handled in this novel. Scott’s book is well worth putting to the top of the nightstand reading pile.