Janet Fitch: White Oleander

White Oleander by Janet Fitch is a bildungsroman novel consisting of 481 p. It was first published in New York City by Back Bay Books in April, 1999. There are 32 chapters in this novel that narrate the story of our young protagonist Astrid, who ends up becoming an orphan after her mother murders an ex-boyfriend with whom she had fallen in love with, after being dumped unceremoniously. Astrid finds herself moving from home to home and coming in contact with lifestyles and behaviours different from her own, and in her search for identity, comes to emulate the attitudes and behaviours of those who she considers role models, this in essence causes her once innocent and child-like personality to morph to one of ice-cold maturity and delve into a world of seduction and betrayal.