Point of View

The point of view is told primarily from the first-person-past perspective of Emily. She narrates the entire novel aside from the prologue and epilogue, which are told from the first-person-present perspective of Pammie. Pammie’s two narrative sections act as bookends for the novel: In the prologue, we assume that Pammie is sabotaging Emily’s wedding to Adam because of some malicious desire to control her sons and eliminate her competition for attention. But, when the epilogue rolls around, we realize that we misread Pammie’s intentions entirely during the prologue.

The bookends also serve to offer a window into Pammie’s mind. As Emily spends so much time speculating about her motivations and wondering about her honesty, it is a relief for the reader to get inside Pammie’s head and know for certain that she is a friend rather than a foe.

Emily...