What is an example of irony in the novel, Whistling Past the Graveyard?

One example of irony can be seen in Starla’s idolization of her mother. It is ironic that the parent she was originally looking for—warm, gentle, caring, and compassionate—she finds in her father. Starla’s desire to achieve a better life with her mother by running away to Nashville only occurs when she returns home with her father to Cayuga Springs. As Eula explains and later demonstrates, sometimes mothers are the worst possible mothers (such as Lulu) while others, who may never biologically be mothers end up being the best (such as Eula). Eula’s early assertion that she and Starla are family is denied by Starla, only to be reiterated by Starla later on.