Point of View

The unusual use of Point of View is the defining characteristic of the novel. The story is told from the Point of View of several different characters: Gabor, Suzanne, Lionel, and Lily. Further to this, there are interpretations put forward by characters who weren’t witnesses to the events depicted in the novel: Nathalie Dunois in her biography of Lou Villars, and Lionel’s granddaughter in her postscript to a 60th anniversary edition of one of her grandfather’s books. Each character who contributes their own Point of View does so in a different way and with different effect.

Nathalie’s Point of View is colored by her own preconceptions about her subject and no evidence she uncovers can sway her from the belief that Lou Villars was an evil collaborator. Nathalie’s lack of qualifications as a historian, and the evidence of her unstable...