Living dead (metaphor)
In Margaret’s opinion, people disappear when they are dying. Their voices, laughter, and the warmth of their breathing, flesh, and bones disappear. The memory of these people also disappears. Margaret thinks that it is awful. However, some people manage to avoid their complete disappearance, since they continue to exist in the books they have created. “Their souls are books.” We can feel these people again – their humor, manner of speech and quirks. These people can calm down and change us despite the fact that they are dead. It is a magic.
Respect for the books (simile)
Margaret Lea “tends the books as someone tends the graves of the dead.” She cleans them of dust, glues the damaged pages. Moreover, every day she opens any novel and reads a few lines or pages, letting the voice of the forgotten dead writer sounds in her head. This comparison shows that Margaret is very fond of books.
Like two continents (simile)
Margaret’s father always writes her letters, when she is away, but she does not receive her mother’s letters. Margaret and her mother “are like two continents moving slowly, but inexorably apart.” It means that she never shares her secrets with mom or just talks heart to heart. Her father always tries to do something to maintain their relationship.
I was as cold as a corpse (simile)
Margaret is grieving for her sister. The bond between the twins is a particular one and Margaret without Moira feels like she is dead too. At the beginning of the book, she tells the reader that she always thought that she missed something. When she found her sister's death certificate, she understood what she was longing for. Without Moira, she feels alone and somehow dead too. Her birthday is also her death day but later she learns to live with this burden.
Fossilized tears (metaphor)
The Missus and John Diligence play an essential role in the story. They bring up and protect the three sisters. When Adeline kills him, Vida loses her only paternal figure. The missus was already sick and when he died too, Vida is the only one who can take care of the house and the two sisters. She knows she has to be strong and she never really mourns her loss. Like an ancient and lost treasure, her tears have been fossilized within herself for a long time. Thanks to Margaret's presence and the power of storytelling she frees herself from her old pain.
