Kayla

Setting

This novel takes place the small town of Sequoyah, Oklahoma. A 17 year old girl, seven months pregnant, named Novalee Nation, starts her journey of meeting new people and creating the life she always wanted for herself.

Sequoyah is a small town with not much more than a Wal-Mart, a library, and a few parks and houses. Novalee lives in the Wal-Mart and, in her earlier days, and just walks around town all day, meeting new people.

Besides Sequoyah, we also get to see the journey of Wily Jack Pickens, the boyfriend who left Novalee stranded at Wal-Mart. Most of his journey takes place in the car, on the road, in a jail cell, or in multiple bars when he tried to start a singing career for himself.

Character

Novalee Nation

• built a life for herself, literally from nothing
• caring

Sister Husband 

• like a mother to Novalee, a much better one than she had
• kind-hearted woman, who took Novalee into her home

Moses Whitecotton

• made Novalee think about giving her baby a strong name
• taught Novalee about photography

Benny Goodluck

• gave Novalee a tree, as a symbol of hope
• helped Novalee win her first photography prize

Lexie 

• helped Novalee through a hard time
• had a hard time, and Novalee helped her through it

Forney Hull

• librarian and one of the first people to befriend Novalee
• Novalee's lover

Americus Nation

• taught Novalee to believe in happiness
• Wal-Mart baby

There were also minor characters, such as: Mary Elizabeth (Forney's sister, the librarian), Troy Moffat (Novalee's boyfriend for a very short period of time), Roger (almost raped Lexie's children), Leon (Lexie's husband), etc. 

Conflict

There are many different conflicts in this novel, but if I had to name one conflict it would be man vs. himself. Novalee is in a constant battle with herself because she faces her fear of the number seven, the horror of death and devastation, and the feelings of true love.

Novalee faces her fear of the number seven when her daughter is born, and she has to go through what is to come on the seventh day, seventh month, and seventh year. She is faced with the death of Sister Husband, the devastation of Forney because of the death of Mary Elizabeth, and the horror of the situation with Lexie and her children. Lastly, Novalee must choose between love or friendship with Forney.

There is also another main conflict between Novalee and her environnement, because she has to completely rebuild her life from basically nothing, get a job, make friends, and still take care of a baby.

Theme

Sister Husband says "Home is where your history begins", which becomes a very important part of this novel, because Novalee and Sister Husband start a new "history" in Sequoyah, and when Novalee is offered a job at the new Wal-Mart, out of Sequoyah, she accepts the job, but she wouldn't move out of Sequoyah because that is her home. The saying "there is light at the end of the tunnel" relates to this novel because Novalee goes through a string of bad times (living in Wal-Mart, the kidnapping of Americus, deaths, and Lexie's misery, etc.), but she keeps pushing through and eventually, she ends up with what she always wanted. She builds the house of her dreams, has a loving boyfriend, caring friends, and a sweet daughter. Novalee shows that, thorughout this novel, she never gives up and she shows great signs of perseverance.