The Stillwater Girls

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, child death, and child abuse.

Wren is one of the story’s dual-protagonist narrators. She is 19 years old and has spent most of her life living in extreme isolation in Stillwater Forest. Although toward the end of the novel her real name is revealed to be Felicity Hollingsworth, “Wren Sharp” is the only name she knows for herself and it is the name she continues to use even after learning her birth name. Wren is a courageous, determined, and responsible young woman who keeps herself and her younger sister alive in very difficult circumstances. Even though she is just a year older than Sage, Wren guides Sage and functions like a mother to her throughout the novel, sewing her a doll, urging her to eat, and escorting her to the outhouse at night. Wren is also a compassionate person, going out of her way to comfort Sage and protect her from the harshest truths of their situation as long as possible. Wren does not spare herself from facing harsh truths, however. She is a dynamic character who changes a great deal in her understanding of herself and the world over the course of the novel.