Point of View

The book is told from the third person from Heiligman’s point of view, though Heiligman often writes as if she is writing from both Emma and Charles’s point of view. Before the characters are married she writes chapters separately from their perspectives, then after marriage she intersperses both perspectives intermittently in the same chapter. This demonstrates the couple’s union. She continues Emma’s perspective and story before she meets Charles and after Charles dies, proving that Emma’s life was just as significant as her famous husband’s. Telling her story before Charles and Emma marry, of how Emma was brought up then influenced her relationship with Charles and therefore his work. Continuing the story after he dies also proves how essential Emma was to preserving his memory through his burial and the publishing of his autobiography.

Heiligman also uses her perspective...