I have come to understand Stella as a woman of incredible will and strength, of charisma, of innate intelligence. She was not a woman of her time, and she was made to pay a high price for her unwillingness to conform. If only Stella had been allowed to live her life on her own terms, how might things have been different? I wouldn’t exist, it’s true—would I write myself out of this if it would spare her the suffering? No, I wouldn’t, selfish girl. So I’ve written myself into it, instead.
