Jar of Hearts

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, child sexual abuse, sexual violence, and rape.



Geo recalls realizing that she was pregnant shortly after Calvin raped her. She considered abortion but couldn’t go through with it. With her father’s support, she decided on adoption and chose Nori and Mark Kent, who reminded Geo of her own parents. The Kents named the baby—a boy—Dominic John Kent.

In the present, Geo rereads the letters she received in prison. They weren’t from Calvin, in fact, but from Dominic, who’s now 18. He tells Geo in the letters that his parents divorced when he was five. His father remarried and gave full custody of Dominic to Nori. She brought home boyfriend after boyfriend, including one who molested Dominic. When Nori was killed in a drunk-driving accident, Dominic went into foster care. Geo doesn’t know how to tell Dominic that his biological father is a serial killer who is now murdering his own children because he believes “people like him ‘should not exist’” (269). She knows she has to tell him, though, to warn him that he’s in danger.