Miriam Horton

Miriam is the narrator of this novel. She is the daughter of Reverend Samuel Horton and Joanne Horton. Miriam is 15-years-old as the novel opens. She is a true believer and is devoted to God, her father, and the church. Miriam is an honest narrator who tries to tell the truth about every situation. Her perspective is limited by the fact that she has placed so much faith in Samuel for her entire life. That trust means she does not evaluate whether he is always honest. For example, she trusts that he is healing people during their healing services. It never occurs to her that he may be stretching the truth or even outright lying about his ability to heal. It has only recently begun to occur to her that he is fallible.

Miriam has blindly accepted Samuel's teaching, including that women hold a lesser role in...