Importance of Leslie

Leslie plays a major role in the novel, yet her perspective is shared with the reader minimally. The main focus when reading from her perspective is about the babies that she has miscarried due to the pollution from the island’s factory. While claiming to have returned to her parents’ island estate after their deaths for the benefit of her family, there are ulterior motives for the move. This causes tension between Leslie and Jules, who realizes only much later that his wife is keeping something from him. Leslie is fiercely against the Grudder war plane factory, and she and Veronica have an icy encounter.