Complex sentence: Following a mostly chronological order, the book begins in 1770 with the Spanish building a string of missions along the California coast and moves forward through time, drawing connections between the violence shown to the Mission Indians and the personal abuse Miranda experienced in her life.
Split into simpler sentences: Following a mostly chronological order, the book begins in 1770 with the Spanish building a string of missions along the California coast and moves forward through time. The book spans decades, drawing connections between the violence shown to the Mission Indians and the personal abuse Miranda experienced in her life.