Sexuality

The topic of sexuality permeates this novel. Grace, for instance, is accused of using the promise of sexual favors to persuade James McDermott to kill Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery. It is also highly suspected that Grace and Jamie Walsh had a sexual encounter in the orchard, when in fact their meeting was quite innocent, at least in Grace's recounting of the event. There are social repercussions toward Nancy Montgomery when she enters the public realm. Most villagers assume that Montgomery and Kinnear are sleeping together, and they shun her and Grace when the two women show up at church one Sunday. Montgomery, like Mary Whitney, more than likely, offers herself to Kinnear in hopes of elevating her position, hoping to obtain a marriage contract.

Mary Whitney, the young girl who befriends Grace, becomes involved in a sexual encounter with her employer's son. Mary hopes for marriage, but...