Margaret Lea

Margaret Lea is a writer of non-fiction, biographical works. She lives in a small apartment over her father's bookstore. Margaret has spent a great majority of her life in her father's bookstore, not only working there, but spending a great deal of time reading Victorian novels. Margaret feels at home among the books because she feels alien in the real world. Margaret discovered on accident when she was ten years old that she had a twin that died not long after their births. Margaret held this secret inside for a long time, growing resentful of her mother for having never told her she was a twin. This secret ruined Margaret's relationship with her mother.

Margaret receives a letter at the beginning of the novel to write the life story of a famous writer, Miss Vida Winter. Margaret does not want to write the story at first because...