Katy begins the novel as a young girl filled with wonder and innocence. Her terrifying experience with Jacob marks the end of her innocence, which is depicted in the scene where she and her mother feel and sense in the same way, as two women rather than as mother and child, “because [Katy] had seen it too” (209). Katy witnesses the loss of innocence between Paul and Nell: the moment when fun, flirtatious behavior, “their sweet secret,” becomes “wrong and dangerous” (157). Katy views Jacob as an innocent child despite his age and size: “he was strong and had a way with animals. Yet he seemed in other ways to be as young and unformed as Mary, with no language but sounds and needs that one could only guess” (197). Human innocence compared to the innocence of animals throughout the text, particularly with reference to Jacob. He is shown to understand and communicate with animals better than most, and he expresses himself through his work with animals in ways that he can’t with humans.

Each chapter of this book begins with an actual photograph from the 1900s. This helps frame the narrative and root it in the depicted historical time period.