What is the author's style in the novel, A Children’s Bible?

Millet uses a fairly simple and straightforward prose style to emphasize both the realistic and fable-like elements of the story. This mixture of tones can be observed in the opening lines of the story, which also serve to set the scene: “Once we lived in a summer country. In the woods there were treehouses, and on the lake there were boats” (1). This elegiac tone evokes a sense of serenity, which the novel then gradually subverts as the story progresses. The story is fairly domestic and mundane at first, but the narrative the begins to subtly foreshadow violence and instability. For example, when Kay throws a rock at Amy’s head, the narration describes the resulting injury thusly: “Blood on the forehead. A visible dent” (52). The novel also foreshadows the storms and ecological instability with narration pertaining to climate change/volatility.

The novel integrates opposing tonalities of adversity and hope in order to develop thematic statements on the value of gratitude and perseverance. For example, although the characters face many instances of adversity, there are multiple points in the novel where Evie specifically practices mindfulness and gratitude. In one passage of narration, Evie states, “I practiced forgetting what was beyond me and noticing only where I was. I practiced being wet and cold and hungry and not minding” (147). Similarly, at the end of the novel, Jack expresses worries about the future, and about the uncertainty of the afterlife. Evie responds thusly, in the last line of the novel: “We call that hope, you see” (224).