Point of View

Anna North bases her novel on Ada's point of view exclusively. At first glance, the first person narrative and precise timeline give the reader the impression of dipping into a memoir rather than a novel. This impression promotes the reader's emotional investment with Ada and her plight. Following Ada's story, one cannot help but feel her disenchantment, sorrow, fright, and self-doubt in a very personal way. The underlying presence of other characters through flashbacks and references reinforce the first person narrative. The wisdom of her mother and the sweetness of her sister give credence to Ada's predicament as an adult and make it all the more harrowing. Through dialogue, however, other characters, sometimes even minor ones, who only appear once or twice, test and sometimes even destroy Ada's point of view. Such is the case for her mother-in-law Claudine who seems at first a reliable...