I was treated once more to a novelist's valuable lesson, however--in apprehending that one's perception of plot and character are influenced entirely by one's own experience. To hear Mary tell the story of our Christmas at The Vyne, one would have thought that she was hounded by violence from first to last--perceived more than anybody of the nature of the probable murderer--and barely escaped with her life. It was a lesson in writerly humility. We are each the heroines of our own lives.