Content Warning: This section of the guide references family trauma and grief, child abuse, domestic violence, and suicidal ideation.

“Remade by fire, Alice’s father’s touch on her mother’s pregnant body would always be soft; his hands on Alice always gentle and nurturing. Most of all, he would cradle the baby when it came, and Alice wouldn’t lie awake wondering how to protect her family.”

At a young age, Alice is depicted as caring and empathetic, as shown by her worrying for her mother and baby sibling’s safety. Alice also reveals her father’s abuse and her wish to be a protector and to end the cycle of trauma. Her thoughts of fire also relate to the storytelling motif, hoping her father can be remade into something new, like a phoenix. This foreshadows the accidental fire that will end Clem’s abuse, though her thoughts of protection will be replaced by feelings of guilt that she carries for decades.

“Be good, darling, her mother implored as she brushed Alice’s cheek with her lips. She smelled like jasmine, and fear.”

Agnes is characterized through her kind dialogue and gentle actions. The use of fear as a scent creates a unique and visceral description of Agnes’s hypervigilance, as well as Alice’s ability to pick up on her mother’s emotional states.

“The sight filled Alice with the kind of green hope she found at the bottom of rock pools at low tide but never managed to cup in her hands.”

Alice’s admiration for her mom’s happiness in the garden illustrates the theme of Relationships with the Natural World. The metaphor fits Ringland’s literary style and offers natural, tangible image of childhood wonder.