Romantic

Character Role Analysis

Dr. Hutchings

Dr. Hutchings is Tilly's love interest, except that he's not. This book just isn't a romance at all. He asks her to dance once and then sends her letters during the war, but their courtship takes place offscreen and apparently, automatically.

Dr. Hutchings seen us off at the Cairo depot. When we parted, my hand lingered in his, just long enough to know it was where my hand belonged. But I saw no more of him for all the years until the war was over. He was good to write, from wherever they sent him. I kept the letters and read them over and over until I found myself marking time until their author come back to me. (14.32)

That's the gist of it—one paragraph devoted to the love of Tilly's life. Her concern in telling this story isn't to relay her own romance. At all.

Noah

Noah is Delphine's romantic interest, though no one's really sure how she feels about him until Tilly sees her face on the day of the battle:

But in the flicker of torchlight, I read her face and saw her soul. She loved my brother. And she was mourning him already. (13.12)

Like Tilly and Dr. Hutchings' relationship, though, this one is news to us. There's almost no courtship at all, other than Noah's crush on Delphine before he goes to war. But, since pretty much everyone has a crush on Delphine, for us as readers, it's like they just decide to be a couple all of a sudden.