Content Warning: This section references mental health conditions.

One of the novel’s three protagonists, Alice Holtzman is an introverted widow who is struggling emotionally in the wake of losing her husband, Buddy, a year ago. Alice is seeing a therapist because she has panic attacks. When she was younger, she was often quiet, and people sometimes mistook that for unfriendliness. Now in her mid-forties, she is self-contained and efficient, and as a general rule, she dislikes most people. She prefers to avoid talking to them lest they make some stray remark that triggers her grief. More than once, she refers to herself as “Alice Island” (139, 212). This is why she balks at the idea of having young Jake live with her: “She couldn’t handle having another person at the house” (98). However, she also realizes, to her surprise, that she likes Jake, and this becomes a big step in her acceptance of having other people in her life.

Her partnership with Jake and then Harry marks her success in creating a small, supportive community in her own home. In addition, with the help of her therapist, Dr. Zimmerman, she learns how to redirect her mind when she has distressing thoughts about Buddy so that such thoughts don’t disrupt or control her life.