The Strength of Women

Kubica includes strong female characters in the novel to demonstrate how women are capable of protecting themselves and others in intelligent ways. Sadie proves that she is a strong woman when she decides to find out who really killed Morgan after she senses that Berg believes Sadie is the murderer. Imogen demonstrates her strength when she first records Will’s confession. Additionally, she saves Sadie’s life by incapacitating Will when she hits him with the fireplace poker.

Both Sadie and Imogen have been mistreated. However, their inner strength makes them determined not to be abused again. They have built walls to protect themselves from further hurt. Imogen’s walls are in the form of her ugly language and hateful attitude. Consider her greeting when Sadie and Will first arrive at the house: “Her voice is acidic when she speaks, quiet — she doesn...