Point of View

The novel is written in first-person with a narrator who moves between past and present tenses. Lily, the first-person narrator, opens the novel in the present tense, but then in order to offer proper context to occurring events, her narration reverts to the past to tell her story. Lily’s past-tense narrative encompasses much of the novel, and she only reverts back in Section 4, when certain conflicts between Lily and Eva are relieved in the present.

Lily’s dual perspectives allow access to her childhood experiences, albeit with the knowledge and maturity of her adult self. This narrative device creates an interesting tension—Lily’s present self assures the reader from the onset that her time with the Trenthams does not end well, but still brings us along for the intoxicating ride regardless. Although the reader possesses knowledge of the novel’s inscrutable conclusion, Lily...