Anna

Anna, the protagonist of All That Life Can Afford, is a young American graduate student in London whose story blends aspiration, vulnerability, and resilience. She arrives with the hope of building a new life through her academic work and tutoring, but quickly finds herself caught between the allure of privilege and the precarity of her own circumstances. From the start, Anna is marked by contradictions: she is resourceful yet impulsive, fiercely independent yet yearning for stability and belonging.

Her precarious financial situation shapes much of her trajectory. Student loans, unpaid wages, and overlooked obligations create constant crises, highlighting her fragile position in contrast to the effortless wealth of her Highgate friends. Anna’s occasional deceptions—borrowing clothes, slipping into parties, maintaining appearances—reveal both her ingenuity and her desperation. Yet these moments are not presented as simple dishonesty; rather, they underscore her struggle to navigate a society that...