Point of View

One True Loves is narrated from the first person point of view of the main character, Emma Blair. This point of view choice is crucial to understanding the novel’s central thematic explorations. By limiting the narrative world and its presentation to Emma’s insular lens, the author enacts Emma’s internal and personal journeys towards self-discovery, healing from grief, and reconciliation with her former life. Indeed, following Emma’s discovery that her husband Jesse is in fact alive, she says, “I lost hope and love and all of my kindness . . . I wanted to die” (81). Presenting these affecting statements in Emma’s first person point of view allows the author to inhabit, capture, and convey the profundity of Emma’s psychological and emotional experiences. The narrative stakes are therefore lodged within and dictated by Emma’s internal struggles. Hearing her describe and process them in...