Despite the fact that Miranda is a moral monster, she is nevertheless the life and soul of the narrative. A rude and irrational figure, her outrageous conduct provides the narrative with its most entertaining episodes. Miranda is presented in such a way that she becomes the proverbial villain one loves to hate. Her existence colors every moment in this novel, including those in which she is actually absent—her great and dreadful spirit seems to hover menacingly even over those times and places that lack her physical presence. Like a powerful witch or goddess, her psyche seems to pervade every corner of her assistant Andrea’s existence, eating away at her personal life and relationships and dominating the narrative with powers that seem almost