On Mystic Lake

“Wife. Mother. These were the roles that defined her, that gave her life meaning.”

The hopeless tone of this passage expresses how Annie feels at the beginning of the novel. She has given her whole life to filling these two roles, and she defines herself by them. Her main psychological task in the novel is to learn to define herself by other means when these two roles drastically change.

“For half her life, she'd touched him whenever she wanted, and now he had taken that right away.”

Annie does not know how to act around her husband anymore. They spent two decades together, but in an instant, he has changed their relationship by asking for a divorce. She is not yet ready for a divorce, and the question remains throughout much of the book as to whether they will ever get back to where they were before he made the divorce request.

“I know you feel lost now, but it won't last forever, and this will make sure that you can always find your way home again...where I'll always be waiting.”

Hank, Annie's father, gave her a compass when she was younger with these words engraved on it. Annie goes home to Hank when Blake leaves her. She later gives this compass to Izzy and helps the girl learn how to use it, helping her find true north in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one.