Sophie

Sophie is the thirteen-year-old protagonist and narrator of the novel. In the opening chapters, she describes herself as "three-sided Sophie." One side is dreamy and romantic, particularly when discussing her relationship with the sea, one side is logical and down-to-earth, and one side is hard-headed and impulsive. At the opening of the novel, thirteen-year-old Sophie begins by writing about her love for the sea and describing a vivid nightmare she has about a giant black wave coming to consume her. This love/fear is central to the mystery surrounding Sophie's character, and history, throughout the novel. Sophie has fought her way onto the family's sail boat The Wanderer for a cross-country trip to visit her Grandfather, Bompie, who lives in England. As the novel progresses, the reader learns that this family is not Sophie's blood family but her adoptive family - she was adopted three years earlier -...