Point of View

The point of view of this novel is first person. The novel's prologue suggests that the story contained in the plot of this novel was written by Olivia Winfield Foxworth, the narrator, in order to refute stories told about her by her child and grandchildren. Olivia is known to fans of the author as the grandmother who kept four children locked in a secluded second-story room in order to punish them for being born to an incestuous relationship. Olivia seeks in this novel to tell her story, explaining the darkness of her marriage and the events that led to the mindset that would allow her to torture her own grandchildren in this fashion.

The point of view of this novel works well because it accomplishes the goal the writer sets out in the prologue. The narrator tells the reader that she wants the reader to see...