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She recalled that when her younger self stood on this same beach for the first time, she had thought the sand looked like a gigantic writing surface. The slate was clean, inviting, open to possibilities. And at that moment of her life, she had a new determination, a fierce hope.

This quotation occurs when Ruth goes to the beach at Land’s End and recalls the first time she visited this location when she was eleven years old and had just moved to San Francisco with her mother. Their move was associated with escaping from Ruth’s past trauma of being pursued by Lance, and it helped her to achieve a sense of healing through establishing a new life for herself. Ruth had persuaded her mother to move to San Francisco by pretending that Precious Auntie was sending LuLing a message, when in reality, Ruth was controlling the narrative and creating a way out of a frightening situation for herself. Ruth’s first visit to the beach marked the moment when she realized she had agency and created a new future for herself. Up until this point, Ruth had been passive and vulnerable. She mainly existed as a reflection of her mother and her friends. But, through this move, Ruth sets the stage for her later life as a rebellious teenager who challenges the value system she has grown up with.

The quotation also foreshadows Ruth’s future career and links her to her past, which she does not yet understand. The comparison of the beach to a writing surface hints at her future job as a ghostwriter. Though Ruth finds the sand slate inviting, sand is also changeable and can be washed away easily. Ruth’s career in the shadows of the literary world will mirror this mutability. The writing surface of the sand also reflects how both her mother and grandmother were skilled painters and calligraphers, but their gifts have been washed away by the tides of violence in their lives. Ruth looks at the beach and imagines writing her own story, but she does not yet know that LuLing and Precious Auntie have left narratives of their own for her, through which she will discover a much more permanent family history.

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