Hampshire when she is 12 years old. Colette (Cole) Lee: Birdie's older sister. She is named after her mother's favorite author, Colette. For Birdie, Cole is the mirror in which she can see her blackness. Sandy Lodge Lee: Birdie and Cole's mother. She is white, and from an upper crust Boston family whose lineage traces back to Cotton Mather. Sheila Goldman: The fake identity Sandy uses when she and Birdie settle in New Hampshire. Deck Lee: Birdie and Cole's father. Deck is a black intellectual who teaches and writes on race theory. Dot Lee: Deck's younger sister and Birdie's "favorite adult." Carmen: A girlfriend of Deck's after he divorces Sandy. Penelope Lodge: Birdie's white grandmother; Sandy's mother. Walter and Libby Marsh: Couple that rents the cottage to Sandy/Sheila in New Hampshire. Nicholas Marsh: Walter and Libby's son who goes to boarding school, who is a few years older than Birdie/Jesse. Jim: A man Sandy/Sheila meets in New Hampshire and forms a relationship with. Samantha Taper: An adopted mixed-race child with white parent at the New Hampshire school Birdie/Jesse attends Themes Identity Birdie's struggle with identity is central throughout the novel. Many people in her life try to assign her an identity based on her appearance. Carmen, Penelope, her classmates, and even her own mother, Sandy deny Birdie's blackness and expect her to behave as if she is white. When Birdie and Sandy go undercover, Birdie is forced to deny her blackness in public. Living in a white New Hampshire town, Birdie's primary connection to her blackness and her past is the box of Negrobilia gifted to her by Deck before he and Cole left for Brazil. Even Deck, a man who once claimed that no child of his could pass as white, dismisses Birdie's struggle for identity by saying that race does not exist. In attempting to find her identity, Birdie identifies with the objects and people she sees around her, most notably her sister Cole. When Birdie makes a trip to New York City and sees young black people dancing to hip-hop, it seems to motivate her to reconnect with her blackness. Similarly, after an encounter with Samantha, she decides to return to Boston to find Cole. When Birdie and Cole are separated, Birdie turns her focus towards the Negrobilia box to help her become one with her African-American heritage. As she continues with her life, she begins to