Author: eliseschiller

The oldest child in a troubled Philadelphia family, Angel Ferente struggles to care for her three sisters while pursuing her goal of attending college on a swimming scholarship. She has a problematic relationship with her mother, Pic, who uses alcohol and drugs to self-medicate and at one point lost custody for a year, and an outright hostile relationship with her stepfather, the only father … figure in her life. Angel is the center of stability in the household—making sure the younger girls get to school, ensuring that holidays are observed, doing the family’s laundry at her part-time job at a…