“But since I’ve never had a taste for unhappiness, I decided it wouldn’t last. Unhappiness has to stop someday.”

This quote appears early in the novel as Violette is looking back on her experiences. The line functions as something like a thematic statement for the rest of the story, setting up the experience that the author hopes the reader will come away with: that unhappiness is unavoidable but transient, and that happiness can be a choice.

“Nono is the person I trust the most. He’s an upstanding man who has joie de vivre in his blood. Everything amuses him and he never says no. Apart from when there’s a child’s burial to attend to. He leaves ‘that’ to the others.”

The gravediggers each have their own personality and are each very dear to Violette, but it is alluded to more than once that she and Nono have a special relationship. His lighthearted nature provides a respite from the darker aspects of the story; however, his aversion to the deaths of children shows a deeper connection between him and Violette.

“I felt my skin tighten, like it had a premonition. He was ten years older than me. The age difference gave him stature. I felt like a butterfly gazing at a star.”

The scenes from Violette’s past are told in past tense, unlike the present-tense narration of the contemporary story. This line foreshadows events to come and the dynamic of the couple’s relationship from the point of view of a frightened young girl.