The Narrator

The narrator of this novel is an unnamed woman. She is the main character in this novel, as most of the plot is comprised of her thoughts and memories. Her age is never stated, and Bennett never provides a physical description for her. She has some childhood memories of spending time with friends ("Voyage in the Dark") and of playing with her brother at her house (Old Ground"). At one point, the narrator goes to school and decides to make a career out of her academic research on literature. She focuses her studies on the literary portrayal of love as a violent and controlling thing in stories. Her research is not taken well, and her colleagues dislike both her demeanor and her research. The narrator quits academia, leaving her PhD. only partially completed, and moves to a small cottage in the countryside away from the city and...