Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)—Helena Cranston
Helena is our main gal in this book, and she's also our storyteller—she tells us what's what and who's who on this ship. And luckily for us, Helena is as nosey as they come. She wants to know everything out there, so she makes it her job to get all the details—which means we get them too.
Just check out how Helena reacts when she first hears the Upstairs Cranstons are moving:
The eyes in my mind narrowed. I am Helena, the oldest, and I needed to understand everything. "Where are they going, Louise?" (1.24)
Helena has a hankering to learn every tidbit she can. She doesn't want to know just some of the info out there—she needs to know "everything." For Helena, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about her need for facts, so when it comes to gathering them, she is a pretty good detective. And this makes her seem like a reliable narrator.
But not so fast—Helena is also a super opinionated mouse. She's got something to say and she's not holding back, and this can also make her seem like a pretty biased storyteller.
Plus Helena controls the information she gives out. She doesn't tell Beatrice that England is across a big huge ocean. And she doesn't tell her sisters that she's met little Lord Sandown on the ship. If she's holding back from her nearest and dearest, it seems totally possible that she's holding back from us too. After all—for all she knows, we're just a bunch of literate cats.