Independence by Lee Blessing

Independence is the powerful, disturbing study of a family divided against itself. The setting is the small town of Independence, Iowa, at the lifelong home of Evelyn Briggs. Her oldest daughter, Kess, has come home at the request of her sister, Jo, who is concerned for Evelyn’s mental health. Kess wants to cut her family ties once and for all; Jo, a longtime virgin, has now become pregnant; while youngest daughter Sherry, salty-tongued and amoral, wants only to finish high school and leave home for good. In the end, each realizes that she must find her own heaven—or hell—in her own way.