The social and psychological portrait of Dolley Madison is effectively traced through a dual narrative. A large section of the narrative, and arguably the most compelling part, is given over to entries from Dolley's imagined personal journal, and is narrated in the first person. This technique has several uses, not the least of which is the placing of important historical events in the appropriate chronology, as Brown has her protagonist carefully date each entry. Additionally the reader is able to gauge Dolley's character and temper by the tone and length of her entries, and by the parts of her life that she chooses to include in her journal, and those she chooses to omit.

The remainder of the narrative is a third-person omniscient narration about the persons and events connected to the war of 1812 that Dolley could not know about with enough certainty to include in her journal...