The Book Eaters

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Devon is the protagonist and primary point-of-view character of The Book Eaters. Through the dual-timeline structure, the novel portrays her from a very young age and the formative experiences that lead to the events of the central plot.

Devon grows up in an isolated manor in North Yorkshire with a deeply traditional and patriarchal family (or Family, in book-eater terminology). Her first-ever interaction with a human immediately conveys some problematic issues, such as Devon not understanding what a television is or why it may be unwise to invite strangers home. Her first inkling that things may not be entirely as they appear occurs when she attends her cousin’s wedding and senses that the bride is not living her “happily ever after.” When it is her turn, she arrives as someone confident and at ease in her place: “[B]ook eater women were rare and special, having a secure place in society that they were comfortable in. Therefore, she too was rare and special without having to do anything other than exist” (47). She cites Jane Eyre as the antithesis of what she herself is destined for, illustrating how firmly her understanding of the world and of herself has been structured by curated literature.