Isobel Fairfax

Isobel is an English teenager with an impressive intellect and a hilarious sense of humor. Both of these qualities make her a wonderful narrator. Her vast array of learning enables her to cover historical periods with accuracy, and her sense of humor can make the most ordinary circumstance interesting or the most horrifying incident bearable.

Isobel tells the reader early on in grand colorful terms that she is a large person. Later she gives more details, and the reader learns that she is about five feet ten inches tall and weighs about 145 pounds. While this is certainly not gigantic or obese, it is more than enough to make a sixteen-year-old young woman self-conscious.

Isobel has a fondness for the writings of Shakespeare. She delights in reading his works and imagining him as a real person and not just a literary figure. But it is as a literary...