Sipsworth

The novel is primarily narrated in a close third-person point of view, with most of the events filtered through Helen Cartwright’s perspective. However, an omniscient narrator appears twice, most notably in the opening section, which is titled “Overture.” The omniscient narrator establishes that Helen is old, that “her life [is] broken in ways she could not have foreseen” (9), and that she is a stranger to the other residents of Westminster Crescent. The “Overture” spans three years and is narrated in habitual time, illustrating Helen’s repetitive actions and routines.

However, toward the end of the “Overture,” with the sentence beginning, “Helen realised,” the narration moves into a close third-person perspective. This section’s last sentence, “Then early one morning, something happens” (10), marks the point at which the novel transitions into present-day narration. The remainder of the novel unfolds in the present tense, taking place over the course of two weeks. Each day of the week is named and contains, typically, between one and 6 chapters. This compact structure allows Van Booy to describe Helen’s world with great depth. Through personification and simile, Helen’s town acquires individuality and color; for instance, a shop has a “gossip” of pigeons, the hardware store has a “valley” of mops and lightbulbs, and a storm has “growls of thunder” as the curtains “flash like bared teeth” (46). 

The novel’s condensed timeframe heightens the importance of subtle linguistic shifts that show Helen’s emotional transformation, particularly in her relationship with the mouse she discovers. In these initial chapters, she still refers to the mouse as “it,” a term that distances her from attachment. A pivotal moment in her journey comes when she begins to refer to the animal as “him,” signaling her growing concern and affection.

One of the novel’s central themes is The Difficulty of Overcoming Grief, and this dominates these early chapters. Helen is so grief-stricken that she is ready to die so she can be with her lost loved ones. The plastic deep sea diver that she finds in the discarded fish tank symbolizes her lost family members, stirring up memories of them that induce both joy and pain. This plastic figure functions as a “MacGuffin,” a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for a narrative device that sets a story’s plot in motion but is not actually important to the story. This plastic diver is important because it sets off a chain of events that leads to Helen discovering the mouse, marking the beginning of her path toward healing.

Helen’s grief also manifests in her overwhelming sense of isolation. She sees herself as nothing more than a “bony figure flapping down Westminster Crescent” (9), unknown and unnoticed by her neighbors. Though she tries to convince herself that her loneliness is part of “the conditions of old age” (16), it is in fact a protective measure she has taken to shield herself from further pain. She also resigns herself to despair, believing that her suffering is the inevitable consequence of outliving her loved ones. However, she will come to see that even deeply entrenched grief can shift through small moments of connection and care. 

As the story proceeds, Helen’s ability to show kindness will come from her attachment to the mouse and the people it brings into her life. In these early chapters, however, she has only her memories to draw upon, and her kindness toward the mouse is spurred by her memories: Remembering the time she fell into the well as a child prompts her to punch holes in the plastic film she places over the mouse’s tank; recalling Len’s heart attack makes her reluctant to use the glue traps; and the memory of her father’s miraculous rescue at sea inspires her to turn the tank over so the mouse won’t drown in the rain. Her actions show that her grief and love are intertwined—Helen extends to the mouse the same compassion she once showed her family. 

Water serves as a motif in the novel and is associated with acts of kindness and renewal. For example, it is raining when Helen first brings the fish tank into her house; later, another rainstorm prompts her to overturn the tank so the mouse won’t drown. The latter action is doubly significant, as it is linked to the memory of her father’s survival at sea. Water, which is often symbolic of both destruction and rebirth, foreshadows Helen’s eventual acceptance of life beyond grief.

The plot often progresses through foreshadowing and parallels, with several key instances appearing in these early chapters. The plastic diver figure makes Helen wonder if more “remnants of her life will soon be washing in” (23), foreshadowing the scenes that will reawaken her medical skills. Also, her dizziness in the hardware store presages her coming heart attack. Helen draws a parallel between herself and the mouse: She thinks the mouse came to her house to “live out the last of its days” (31), and this is the same future she envisions for herself. The tapping sound that first alerts her to the mouse’s presence will later be echoed in the last chapter, signifying the full circle of her journey.