Kennedy says that in Quinn's Book he returns to Albany's past to discover patterns that anticipate the twentieth cen tury. In establishing his characters, the Daughertys, the Quinns, and Katrina's ancestors, Kennedy presents a cross section of Albany society.

For example, Hillegond Roseboom is the daughter of a tavern keeper "of bibulous repute"; she marries the wealthy Petrus Staats whose ancestors first settled in Fort Orange—later renamed Albany—in 1638 and who, through hard work and business acumen, become one of Albany's socially prominent, oldmoney families. Although Hillegond marries primarily for money, she is not haughty, but rather affable, industrious, and one of Kennedy's hearth goddesses.

She warmly welcomes Quinn and Maud into her mansion on the wintery night of the opening cataclysms; she opens her mansion to the Ryan family the night Toddy Ryan is killed and to fugitive slaves whom she helps to freedom...