Chapter 36 Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with Josephine, Cate, and Isabelle entering Yoon Flowers & More, a bright, fragrant shop run by Barbara Kim—formerly Mother Eight—and her daughters, Soo-jin (the girl Josephine knew as Helen) and Min-ji. Tom waits in the car. Josephine is struck by how ordinary and settled Barbara's life appears, a stark contrast to the isolated mother-daughter pairs she has encountered among the other Homesteaders.
Barbara initially pretends not to recognize the visitors, but when the three women identify themselves as the daughters of Tonya, Margaret, and Patricia, her composure cracks. She is furious they have come to her family business and worried her daughters might learn the truth. After a tense exchange, Barbara locks the basement door and grants them exactly ten minutes.
In the basement, Barbara examines the photograph of Lily-Anne that Cate has carried. She reveals the photo was taken on New Year's Day 1977—not during a pregnancy with Fiona, who was already nine months old, but during a second pregnancy. Lily-Anne had conceived a child entirely on her own, without Bellanger's involvement, while he was away in Maryland attending to his son. This was a true virgin birth, a miracle without the medicine.
Barbara explains that Lily-Anne had kept the pregnancy secret, showing Barbara only when she was five months along. Bellanger, upon discovering it, was furious and moved Lily-Anne to his lab, isolating her and forcing daily medications. When Lily-Anne went into premature labor three months early, Barbara was the only one allowed in. Lily-Anne died during the birth, and the baby—a tiny, perfect girl with red hair like her mother and sister—died as well. Bellanger brought in a colleague, Dr. Henley, who took both bodies. Barbara was left to clean up the lab and the secret. The next day, a newspaper falsely reported that Lily-Anne had died of a heart attack.
Barbara then reveals why she fled: Bellanger threatened to have her committed and to take Soo-jin as his own daughter if she ever spoke of what she knew. She left the Homestead, changed Helen's name to Soo-jin, married Bill Yoon, and built a new life. She also shares the painful reality of being a non-white woman in this story—the fear and racism she faced, the way people saw her as an invasion of fatherless foreigners.
Barbara tells Josephine that Margaret called her recently, rambling and not making sense. Margaret believed she had seen Fiona alive in a Texas news segment about a flock of birds dropping from the sky. Barbara dismisses it as Margaret being unwell, but Josephine latches onto the detail.
After the meeting, Soo-jin secretly approaches the group in an alley. She reveals she knows far more about her past than her mother realizes, and she gives Josephine a newspaper clipping from the Dallas Morning News dated March 15, 1994—just over six weeks earlier—about a shower of dead, some burned, starlings in Freshwater, Texas. Soo-jin also confesses that she possesses a screaming ability, which she once used to incapacitate a man who tried to assault her at a party. Josephine confirms that all the Girls are like this in some way.
When Josephine impulsively invites Soo-jin to join them, Soo-jin declines, choosing to stay with her family. Back in the car, Tom mentions that the Grassis—Mother Four and Girl Four, the last names on Margaret's list—live in Freshwater. Josephine connects the dead birds, the red-haired girl, and the Grassis, and declares they are going to Freshwater because her mother is there.
Key Events
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Barbara Kim grants the group ten minutes in the flower shop basement and reveals the existence of a tenth baby.
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Lily-Anne conceived a second child through true parthenogenesis, with no male involvement and no Bellanger intervention.
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Lily-Anne died in premature labor in early 1977; the baby died as well, and Bellanger took both bodies for testing.
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Barbara fled the Homestead after Bellanger threatened to take Soo-jin and have Barbara committed.
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Barbara reports that Margaret called her, rambling about seeing Fiona alive in a Texas news segment about dead birds.
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Soo-jin privately gives Josephine a newspaper clipping about dead birds in Freshwater, Texas, and reveals her screaming ability.
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Tom confirms the Grassis live in Freshwater, and Josephine decides they will go there, believing her mother is present.
Character Development
Josephine undergoes a profound shift in this chapter. Learning that Lily-Anne achieved a true virgin birth—without Bellanger's science—forces Josephine to reconsider everything she has dedicated her life to. She has spent years trying to restore Bellanger's research, but Lily-Anne's achievement suggests the miracle was never his to own. Josephine's desire to find her mother intensifies, and she becomes more decisive, declaring they will go to Freshwater with certainty.
Barbara Kim is revealed as a survivor who has built a new identity. Her anger at being found, her fear for her daughters, and her painful account of racism and threats show a woman who has paid a heavy price for her freedom. Her decision to hide Soo-jin's origins is both protective and complicated, and her final blessing to Josephine—acknowledging that Margaret adored her—adds warmth to an otherwise guarded character.
Soo-jin emerges as a bridge between the Homestead world and ordinary life. She knows her past, possesses the inherited screaming ability, and has used it to protect herself. Her choice to stay with her family, despite the longing in her eyes, shows a young woman who has found belonging and is not willing to abandon it.
Isabelle remains quiet and disturbed throughout the chapter, still processing the events at the gas station. Her brief, pointed question to Barbara about whether Soo-jin deserves to know the truth hints at her own complicated feelings about identity and secrecy.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Parthenogenesis and Female Autonomy: Lily-Anne's second pregnancy is the purest expression of female reproductive autonomy in the novel. It is a miracle achieved without Bellanger's science, without contracts, without custody arrangements. The baby would have been Lily-Anne's alone, and its loss represents the suppression of that autonomy.
Scientific Control vs. Natural Miracle: The chapter draws a sharp contrast between Bellanger's controlled, documented pregnancies and Lily-Anne's spontaneous, secret one. Bellanger's fury at losing control, and his decision to hide the pregnancy and take the bodies, shows how science can become a tool of possession rather than liberation.
Threats and Coercion: Barbara's account of Bellanger's threat—to have her committed and take Soo-jin—reveals the naked power he wielded over the women. Custody is not a legal nicety here; it is a weapon.
Assimilation and Renaming: Barbara's decision to change Helen's name to Soo-jin and marry Bill Yoon is an act of survival. The chapter also confronts the racism Barbara faced, which the white mothers did not, adding a layer of complexity to the Homestead sisterhood.
Dead Birds as Omen: The newspaper clipping about dead, burned starlings in Freshwater connects to earlier imagery of dead birds and to Fiona's destructive abilities. The birds function as a sign that something unnatural is happening in Freshwater—and that Fiona may indeed be there.
The Scream as Inherited Power: Soo-jin's screaming ability, used to protect herself from assault, is a direct inheritance from her mother's parthenogenetic origin. It is a power that emerges in moments of danger, a physical manifestation of the miracle that created her.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is a turning point in the novel. It reveals the existence of a tenth baby—a true virgin birth that predates and surpasses Bellanger's work—and reframes the entire history of the Homestead. Lily-Anne's achievement suggests that parthenogenesis was not Bellanger's creation but a natural capacity that he merely harnessed and controlled. This undermines Josephine's lifelong project of restoring his legacy and forces her to see him as a monster rather than a flawed genius.
The chapter also provides the crucial clue that sends the group to Freshwater, Texas: the dead birds, the red-haired girl, and the Grassis. Josephine's conviction that her mother is there sets up the novel's climax. Finally, Soo-jin's choice to stay with her family, despite her longing to know her origins, offers a counterpoint to Josephine's quest—a reminder that identity can be found in the family you choose, not just the one you came from.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Lily-Anne's second pregnancy change the meaning of parthenogenesis in the novel?
Lily-Anne's second pregnancy proves that parthenogenesis was not dependent on Bellanger's science. It was a natural, spontaneous miracle that occurred without his intervention, his medications, or his control. This reframes the nine Girls as products of Bellanger's work, but the tenth baby would have been Lily-Anne's alone—a true virgin birth that would have eclipsed everything Bellanger had achieved. It suggests that the women's bodies held the capacity for self-conception all along, and that Bellanger's role was one of control and appropriation rather than creation.
2. Why does Barbara choose to hide Soo-jin's origins, and what does this reveal about her character?
Barbara hides Soo-jin's origins to protect her from the threats Bellanger made—to have Barbara committed and to take Soo-jin as his own daughter. She also wants to give Soo-jin a normal life, free from the fear, racism, and scrutiny that Barbara herself endured. Her choice reveals a woman who has prioritized survival and safety over truth, and who has built a new identity as a shield. Yet her decision is complicated: Soo-jin knows the truth anyway, and Barbara's fear of her daughters discovering their heritage shows how deeply the trauma of the Homestead still shapes her.
3. What role does the newspaper clipping play in advancing the plot?
The clipping about dead, burned starlings in Freshwater, Texas, connects several threads: Margaret's rambling phone call about seeing Fiona alive, the earlier imagery of dead birds, and the Grassis' location. It gives Josephine a concrete destination and a reason to believe her mother is there. The clipping transforms a seemingly random news story into a clue, suggesting that Fiona's destructive abilities may have caused the bird deaths and that she is somehow connected to the Grassis. It propels the group toward Freshwater and sets up the novel's final act.
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