Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses death by suicide, pedophilia, incest, sexual exploitation and assault, emotional and physical abuse, and violence.

The protagonist and female main character of Credence, Tiernan, is also its dominant point-of-view character. Most of the book is narrated from Tiernan’s perspective and the plot revolves around her self-discovery, coming-of-age, and sexual expression. Tiernan is a complex, multilayered character who represents the archetype of the heroine who tames the beast. She is described as beautiful, with sandy blonde hair, gray eyes, and dark, emphatic eyebrows. Tiernan is interested in books and art and hopes to be a designer. Orphaned after her parents’ deaths by suicide, Tiernan is 17 at the beginning of the novel. Tiernan is described as a quiet and fiercely intelligent young woman stymied by a lifetime of neglect from her actor mother and producer-writer father. Sent away to boarding schools from an early age and largely brought up by her housekeeper, Mirai Patel, Tiernan is in a state of emotional numbness when the plot takes off.

Tiernan’s decision to wait out the time until her 18th birthday with her estranged step-uncle Jake Van der Berg and his adult sons in Colorado is the inciting incident for her self-discovery.