Clementine West is the protagonist and narrator of The Seven Year Slip. At the novel’s beginning, Clementine is a senior publicist at Strauss & Adder Publishing and is highly devoted to her job, leading her friends to believe she overworks herself to distract from the problems in her life. Clementine grew up on Long Island but often spent time at her Aunt Analea’s Upper East Side apartment, which she inherits just before the novel begins after Analea’s death. Analea was an inspiring presence to Clementine; the two often traveled together in Clementine’s teens and early twenties. She remembers herself as having “the thirst for adventure sown into my very bones” (222), and she loved traveling and expressing herself through her watercolor paintings.

However, after Analea’s death, Clementine absorbs Analea’s fear of change and sees herself becoming a different person. This new version of Clementine cares less for adventure than she does for security and stability, as she feels rattled after her aunt’s death by suicide. Though she loses her passion for her job in publishing, she still stays with it because she believes that it is a good and stable path for her and that others would be proud of her for it.