Gavin

Gavin, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, is the second oldest child in a family of four children. Gavin is ten years old, though Lin does not mention any of the other characters’ ages in the novel. Gavin is an attentive child and is quite shy. He hesitates to speak up, and in his childhood only asks questions when he is in emotional distress. The novel follows him through the year after his sister’s death as he processes his grief.

In the first chapter, he contracts meningitis, the contagious illness that causes his sister’s death. He spends the novel trying to resolve his feelings of guilt for getting Ruby sick. His relationships with most of his family members are quite intimate, though he, like the other characters, struggles to talk about his emotions. The exception to this is his father, who frequently fights with him because...