With a Vengeance

Anna Matheson is the protagonist of With a Vengeance. She is described as being “pretty but plain” with blonde hair (17). She is the second child of Arthur and Margaret Matheson. Anna grew up in an affluent family, surrounded by trains, and she had a happy childhood until 1942. When she was 16, the faulty locomotive exploded, killing her brother Tommy, and her father Arthur was wrongfully blamed. Arthur was murdered in prison awaiting trial, and Margaret died shortly after. Anna’s Aunt Retta was violent with Anna in an attempt to emotionally fortify her to eventually seek vengeance against those who plotted with Kenneth to destroy the Matheson family.

Anna spends years plotting with Seamus Callahan to obtain justice for her family’s suffering. However, despite her careful preparation, Anna wrestles with her emotions when the journey aboard the Phoenix begins. At the cocktail hour, “she opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. Something she hadn’t planned for. And she thought she had prepared for everything” (72). Though Anna made all the necessary tangible plans (e.g. paying off the train employees, sending the invitations, gathering the evidence, etc.), she could not fully emotionally prepare herself to face the people who destroyed her family and brought her life-shattering grief.