The novel’s protagonist, Nora Stephens, is conscious that she looks like the typical antiheroine of a romance novel, being 5’11 and thin, with dyed platinum blonde hair and a predilection for wearing black and high heels. However, given that she has no trouble finding boyfriends and both Shepherd and Charlie are instantly attracted to her, men clearly find her sexually appealing.

Henry shows how Nora’s romantic troubles stem from her twin addictions to working as a literary agent and looking after her adult sister, Libby, leaving her no room for a personal life. While Nora endures the damaging sexist stereotype of being a ruthless, career-minded “ice queen” and is conscious that she is cut from a more pragmatic, rational cloth than her romantic sister and mother, there are more complex reasons behind her behavior (2). We learn that Nora has unresolved trauma from being apart from Libby at the time of her mother’s death. Then, Jakob’s betrayal caused her to close her heart to real love and, instead, try to control relationships and adopt self-protective measures such as never spending the night at her boyfriends’ places. Her fear of crying is less due to a lack of feeling than to a fear of returning to the helpless place of her bereavement and Jakob’s abandonment of her.