Point of View

The novel’s narration is consistently written in the third person and the past tense, and the narrative perspective is always limited to one character. In the story In the Machine, Lucas is the point-of-view character. The reader is given direct access to Lucas’ mental and emotional interiority, but the interiorities of the other characters must be inferred via Lucas’ observations of them. Because the perspective is limited to Lucas, the reader cannot know whether Lucas is simply delusional regarding his theories about machines and spirits. His mother claims that she hears Simon’s voice in the music box, but she is generally unwell and may also be delusional.

In The Children’s Crusade, the point-of-view character is Cat Martin. Like the character of Lucas in the first story, Cat’s narrative is entirely defined by unforeseen circumstances of her work and life exposing her...