I took quite a few notes as I was reading because I had to return this to the library. But the first thing I wanted to point out was how much I really liked the tertiary characters. I liked them more as who they were rather than as who the characters perceived them to be.
- Dr. Strong might have had one of my absolute favorite moments in the book when the lavender water that Marcia is wearing, transports him back to childhood in the middle of his consult.
- The longsuffering Joyce Brabner who is a volunteer (!) social worker who just keeps beating her head against the bricks of Marcia's stubbornness. I felt at once that Pym was trying to convey she was doing all that was within her power to do, but also that she should have been doing more.
- Mrs. Pope was just a HOOT. She could have jumped out of literally any 70s show set in a village with a vicarage. She is the consummate church busy body and charity raiser - as long as you don't want to put the charity leavings in her house. But when she took in Letty, it was almost as if she had taken in a charity leaving. She was also such an interesting offset to the other religious figures in the book (the African Christian, Father G, David Lydell, and Edwin himself).
- I don't even know where to start with Majorie and David Lydell. Even though they were both unpleasant characters, they did not feel villainous or out of place.
I'll save the rest of my scribblings until others have gotten to weigh in.