A Gathering of Days Themes & Characters

A Gathering of Days Themes and Characters

Fourteen-year-old Catherine Cabot Hall, a bright and sensitive girl with blue eyes and straight hair, is the main character of A Gathering of Days. Her journal entries show complex interests: quotations from ancient philosophers such as Dionysius stand next to a recipe for mincemeat; she also writes poetry and likes to draw. She misses her mother, who died of a fever when Catherine was eight, and takes the mother's role in the family, tending to the cooking and the care of her younger sister, Matty.

Catherine loves her father, desires his approval, and enjoys his company.

Warm and nurturing, Charles Hall is a farmer, skilled carpenter, and excellent storyteller. He good-naturedly allows his daughters to play pranks on him and takes pride in the family's self-sufficiency. "We're doing fine just as we are," he insists when neighbors suggest he needs a wife. His bachelor brother Jack...
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