Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses pedophilia, rape, child sexual abuse and violence, possible incest, suicide ideation, and death by suicide.

The protagonist and chief first-person narrator of the book, Adrianne is a complex but sympathetic character. Adrianne is a former nurse who resigned from her job to become a stay-at-mom to Noah and Katie. To make ends meet after Noah grows older, Adrianne works as a medical transcriptionist. Adrianne is married to Lucas, an accountant. Because most of the book is told from Adrianne’s first-person perspective, the text offers a chance to delve into her mind and note the flaws of which Adrianne herself may not be aware. This makes her a three-dimensional, all-too-human character. Adrianne is shown to be a doting mother who takes parenting very seriously. She notes that she has always wanted to be a mom, and “grew up playing house and secretly played with dolls long after my other friends had given them up” (19). Swapping her nursing work for her career as a stay-at-home mom is an easy decision for Adrianne. This, and the fact that Adrianne trained as a nurse, shows that she loves being a caregiver.