Mariana is a 36-year-old group therapist and widow of more than a year who lives in London. Her mother died shortly after giving birth, and Mariana grew up motherless in Athens with a domineering father. Awkward and shy, she learned to watch the world go by from the sidelines. Her solace and escape from the isolation she felt were books: a large library that she inherited from her English mother.

In the narrative present, Mariana’s dependence on books to give her life meaning seems to cross a boundary into pathology: She cannot differentiate reality from fantasy. As often as fictional characters comfort her, they also prevent her from facing her problems and working through them. Her motivation for becoming a group therapist, and the reason she believes that she is a good one, is that she knows how to erase herself. In actuality, she does not erase herself but sees only herself, whether in a portrait of Tennyson or the dynamic among the Maidens and Edward. Mariana understands the world through her own narrow experiences and preoccupations. Because she had issues with her father, she sees that dynamic in everyone.

Throughout the novel, Mariana receives advice from friends and respected mentors that she ignores to her detriment.