All the Little Raindrops

Noelle is the novel’s dynamic protagonist, starting out as a young woman who feels lost after the death of her mother, her father’s subsequent mental health crisis, and her own captivity but turning into a confident and capable mother. During and immediately after her captivity, she is “on […] shaky emotional ground” (196), but moving away from Reno and settling on the East Coast works wonders for her healing by allowing her to get away from a place associated with so much death and anguish. Indeed, it is even important that she leave Evan behind, given what they endured together. She and Evan both describe their feelings for one another as akin to “desperation”; Noelle feels “bereft” without Evan near, but she also recognizes how unhealthy the bond feels. In fact, she thinks, “[S]he’d really been incapable of love [after her escape]. Or a healthy form anyway. And more than that, she’d been especially incapable with Evan” (209). She therefore leaves, putting thousands of miles between herself and Evan so that they can both heal.

By the time Evan locates her, seven years after their escape from captivity, Noelle is better equipped to handle the emotions that being around Evan stirs up: “Noelle was at peace.