September

September is the novel's central character and protagonist, a twelve year old girl described as "ill-tempered and irascible", although she never really displays those characteristics over the course of the narrative, perhaps because she spends all but two or three pages of it away from the environment in which she WAS, perhaps, irascible and ill tempered. The characteristics she does display on her journey through Fairyland are determination (that sometimes verges on obstinacy), courage (that sometimes verges on foolhardiness), and compassion. This last is perhaps most important, in that it can be seen as a manifestation of at least two of the novel's main themes. The first is the power of choice (in that September's choices are often defined by her compassion for others). The second is self-sacrifice (in that September's choices are also often defined by her caring more about what others need than what she herself...