Shebeen Bookcase

The Juno family is a family like any other (just trying to survive the cycle of domestic violence with all the trimmings of alcoholism, adultery and affection.)

In a toxic marriage with an alcoholic husband, haunted by his own personal demons, Winnifred walks a fine balance. She stays with her husband (Vynn) and ignores his infidelity because leaving would be too dangerous, but not leaving means that her young son (Gabriel) must witness the physical and emotional abuse.

Gabriel’s only protector is an elderly nanny (Hekate), with whom he has a unique relationship, filled with wonder and mischievous adventures. Hekate, herself, is the survivor of the kind of abuse that is deep-rooted within the foundation of marriage. Along with the small respite that she offers, Hekate gives Winnifred the stern warning that her marriage can only end one of a few ways, a ‘happy ending’ not being one of them.

This is something that Winnifred knows all too well, as her sister (Regina) is serving a prison sentence (the consequence of trying to end her marriage.)

As circumstances drive her forward to an impossible decision, not only does Winnifred have to navigate the minefield of her husband’s behavior, she has to deal with rats that only seem to appear when tensions erupt.

But this one family’s struggle is tightly entangled with the lives of a cast of other characters:

Selene (Vynn’s lover and a prostitute)

Kismet (an Iranian refugee and Selene’s pimp, who lost his entire family)

Tony (Vynn’s overweight brother, haunted by the same demons as Vynn but who aims his destruction inward)

Solitaire (Tony’s wife, who is unhappy with her life and has a secret stake in Winnifred’s marriage)

Mort (Tony and Solitaire’s son, who has a dark streak growing inside of him)

Ethan (a mysterious policeman, seemingly stalking the Juno family)