Delilah, one of the work’s protagonists, is a 30-year-old photographer working toward artistic success in New York. She had a difficult upbringing, as her mother died when she was a toddler. Not long after her father remarried, he suddenly died of an aneurysm, leaving her in the care of her emotionally distant stepmother, Isabel. Isabel’s daughter, Astrid, was the favored child. Delilah has “sapphire blue” eyes (37), dark curly hair, and an elaborate collection of tattoos. The wisteria vines on her arms resemble her father’s favorite flower, after which he named his family home. Both Claire and Ruby Sutherland make note of a tattoo of a rain cloud over small porcelain cup, a literalization of the phrase “storm in a teacup” (96). Herring Blake suggests that Delilah uses visual art to communicate her true feelings, where her words are often more biting, in part because she regards sarcasm as her only weapon against her hostile stepfamily.

Inwardly, Delilah is far more fragile and plagued by self-doubt, both from recent setbacks and childhood trauma. Delilah bets Astrid that she can hold Claire’s romantic interest when Astrid implies that Delilah would be unappealing as a partner, concealing her hurt beneath the callous plan.