The recurring nightmare that haunts Annie throughout her adult life disturbs some readers, as does the actual event in the Sherwood Forest. But it has particular significance and serves as an important metaphor, with its clang of the iron gates, and her pleading desire to be allowed in.

The love and friendship she finds in St. Andrews make it Paradise for Annie, and when she leaves she is cast out into an evil and frightening world. The lorry driver lurking in the woods and the sensation she has of being raped by a snake, the Neanderthal garage mechanics with their hound from hell, even the violent storm that comes in the night after she separates from Andrew, destroying the gardens and battering the roses at the Whaum, all speak to a classic theme of Paradise Lost. Her arrival in Paris and encounter with the isolated Phillipe, drive home the importance of friendship and love, and of belonging somewhere-with someone. And when she leaves Phillipe behind to face the irate Frenchman, she is fleeing what she fears could be her destiny: “Racing toward the Mediterranean that morning, Annie was certainly also running-away from Paris, away from loneliness and anonymity-like someone who had committed a heinous crime and was now being pursued by the relentless hounds of justice.” She is now in search of redemption, and will be so for the rest of her life.

Annie is a modern Eve who rejects the edicts of masculine rule and does things women are not supposed to do, like buying a motorcycle and taking off on her own, and having an affair when she is married. But her strong-willed nature is undermined by her neediness and desire for love, and this aspect of her personality will always leave her vulnerable to missteps and heartbreak.

Will she ever find redemption? Could a reunion with Andrew bring the happiness and fulfillment she longs for, or is their relationship already doomed?