The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss domestic abuse, sexual assault, and gun violence.

Jules, the daughter of Louise Wilt, calls the police to report her 84-year-old mother missing. Jules and her siblings have not heard from Louise in three days, and she missed her regular hair appointment. Jules also tells the police officer that Louise’s bridge friend hasn’t spoken with her recently, either. Jules and her siblings, Charlie and Lucy, are concerned but live far away enough from their mother that they cannot physically check in on her. Jules is also worried because her mother recently received some upsetting news. The officer asks Jules if her mother has any history of unpredictable behavior or dementia, to which Jules sarcastically replies, “Oh, just her entire life” (2). Jules then tells the officer that she suspects that her mother has been kidnapped, though deep down she knows that her mother has never done anything she didn’t want to do.

Ten days before Jules’s phone call, Louise stares at the seemingly nondescript letter that she has received. The letter, from someone named George Dixon, has intense ramifications for Louise, based on an unnamed thing that she and George did together in the past.