Point of View

The novel follows a third-person omniscient narration that frequently shifts from one character’s point-of-view to another. Sometimes these perspectival shifts are demarcated by a change in chapter, but they also occur often within chapters themselves. In Chapter One, for instance, the narrator tells us that “Denham cursed himself very sharply for having exchanged the freedom of the street for this sophisticated drawing room” (4), providing us with Denham’s own thoughts on the atmosphere of the tea party. A few sentences later, the narration shifts to Katherine’s point-of-view, saying, “she was really wondering how she was going to keep this strange young man in harmony with the rest” (4). By switching perspectives frequently from one character to another, the narrator presents the reader with multiple versions of the same event. The omniscient perspective also allows the narrator to communicate what each character is thinking but...