What is the importance of California in the novel, When You Trap a Tiger?

California is a significant location in the book because it never appears as a setting for the plot, rather it is mentioned as a setting for the parts of Lily and Sam's lives which the reader is not privy to -- the parts before they moved to Sunbeam. California holds an allure for both girls as a sunny place in direct contrast to the greyness and somewhat claustrophobic atmosphere in the tiny town of Sunbeam, Washington, thus the author utilizes California as a way to emphasize how uncomfortable Sam and Lily are in their new surroundings. Moreover, Halmoni mentions California as the place that Andy -- Lily and Sam's late father -- took their mother Joan to after they were married, leaving her all alone in her tiny house in Sunbeam. The location is crucial in that it separates the Reeves women from Halmoni temporally and spacially, though only in their memories and not in the time period in which the book is set.