The Pilot's Wife is a contemporary bildungsroman, detailing a protagonist's movement toward greater self-knowledge.

The novel falls into the tradition of the female bildungsroman, which differs from the male version that concentrates on a male hero becoming initiated into adulthood and finding his place in the community. Instead, like many female heroines, Kathryn experiences a disillusionment that teaches her about her separation from her society. Also like many other female protagonists of novels in this category, Kathryn is the nurturer, the one who stays home and has created a life there rather than embarking on adventures like classic male heroes such as Goethe's prototypical Wilhelm Meister, Fielding's Tom Jones, or Twain's Huck Finn.

The Pilot's Wife shares much in common with one of the cornerstones of the female bildungsroman, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Bronte's novel traces its title character's development from dependence to independence; along the...