Lib Wright
Lib Wright is the protagonist and main character of the novel. She studied nursing under the tutelage of the legendary Florence Nightingale. Her birth name is Elizabeth, but the last person to call her by the name was her husband, whose absence she explains using just one word: widow. She is formally Mrs. Wright within the confines of the hospital. That formality is about to end, however, as she has agreed to take on a most unusual temporary reassignment.
That reassignment takes her to a rural village that is barely more than a cluster of buildings. The case is beyond unusual; it is downright strange. In fact, is unbelievable. The prepubescent daughter of a local family has supposedly managed to survive for four months without eating a single morsel of food.
Lib brings the rational scientific skepticism of her training in the irrefutable workings of the human body into an atmosphere ruled by pure faith that with God’s blessing all things are possible. All she really has to do is bide her time until she has the evidence to prove the girl has been getting food from somewhere. For Lib, it is simply a matter of faith that observation will divulge the truth behind this impossible miracle.
Anna O’Donnell
Anna is the 11-year-old daughter of a devoutly Roman Catholic family. There was also an older brother named Pat, but he has been dead for less than a year. Anna is overwrought by anxiety about her brother’s place in the afterworld, convinced that he may be stuck in purgatory awaiting a final confession or, worse, already in hell.
To all outward appearances, Anna’s story seems to be true. What few people there are in the little village seem convinced and despite her best efforts, Lib has not been able to catch her eating. The nurse’s near-constant presence has its impact upon the girl, however, as she and the nurse begin to form a close bond. This is partly in response to a prickly relationship between Anna and her mother. Her faith in God is unshakeable and presents a constant challenge to the nurse seeking the truth.
Her decision to refuse food is known to be a direct reaction to her brother’s death and Anna’s anxiety about what has happened afterward. Eventually, it will be revealed that this anxiety about her brother’s place in the afterworld is not simply due to a devout belief in the fiery flames of hell but because of the precise reason why Anna fears for her brother’s eternal soul. Anna’s devoutness is tempered by the innocent gullibility of youth and Lib will manipulate these dual aspects of faith in her final desperate attempt to save the young girl.
Rosaleen O’Donnell
Like most hypocritical religious zealots, Anna’s mother is a complicated person. Her expressed faith in her religion overrules everything else, at least on the surface. For instance, she gladly accepts monetary donations offered as sacrifices of belief in the miraculous power of God, but only because, she says, the donations will not go to the family, but to those less fortunate. Among those who are deeply skeptical of this claim is Lib.
Indeed, the nurse who worships the illumination of science more than the mystery of faith has good reason to doubt anything that Rosaleen O’Donnell has to say. Twice a day, in the morning and then at night, Anna’s mother arrives for a ritualistic kiss. Lib makes a connection between Anna’s innocent faith and the twice-daily ritualistic kiss to figure out the secret to Anna’s “miraculous” ability to live without eating food.
There is another reason that Lib comes to believe Rosaleen’s confessed commitment to her church may be an act of hypocrisy. When she finally learns the real reason why Anna seems so convinced that her brother did not go straight to heaven, she confronts Rosaleen with what she assumes will be a shocking confession. Rosaleen, however, informs Lib that Anna has already told her this secret and she made it quite clear to the girl that such slanderous lies about Pat were never to come from her lips again.
William Byrne
William Byrne is a scribbler who writes for the Irish Times. Even in a village that barely qualifies for the term, it is not easy to keep the story of a girl living for months without food quiet. He has been trying to arrange a visit with Anna to see the girl for himself in order to report on the veracity of her claims but to no avail. The arrival of the fascinating British nurse might just seem like the opening he needs.
He quickly learns that the person denying him entry is none other than the nurse. What makes this all the more enraging is he and the nurse have bonded over a rebellious sense of skepticism, Moreover, she has even been moved to confide some of her more urgent concerns about the situation to the journalist. This slow movement toward romantic feelings finally has the effect of convincing Lib to allow him to see Anna even though she still possesses some fear that he was only using her as a means to attain that precise end.
Almost instantly upon seeing the condition of the young girl, William’s concern ramps up. Having been sent to study the Irish famine when he was still a teenager, William recognizes the effect of a starving body turning upon itself for sustenance when he sees it. Together, Lib and William conspire in an incendiary plot to save Anna from herself and from her family by exploiting the young girl’s innocence, gullibility, and true faith in God.
