The Main Character

The main character is the first-person narrator of the novella, who remains nameless the entire time. She is a girl of about 10 years old living with her family in Ireland, going to stay with relatives for a summer before she has to go back to school. Throughout, she remains soft-spoken and shy, but over the course of things she opens up more and especially becomes close and comfortable with the Kinsellas, with whom she is staying. She has a troubled relationship with her parents for several reasons that become clearer as the novella goes on -- some of them include her unreliable (and possibly alcoholic) father, who we learn has gambled away financially important possessions of the family; her large number of siblings, which renders her mother incapable of giving her a proportionate level of care and attention that she requires; and the family's poverty, accentuated...