My Dark Romeo

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, sexual violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, gender discrimination, and graphic violence.

Dallas Townsend is one of the novel’s protagonists and first-person narrators. The chapters titled with her first name are written from her first-person point of view and trace the plot from her storyline. Her first-person voice also provides insight into her interiority and conveys her thoughtful nature. In the narrative present, Dallas is 21 years old. She grows up with her father, Shepherd Townsend, mother, Natasha Townsend, and younger sister, Frankie Townsend, in Chapel Falls, Georgia. While Frankie is “the designated banshee in the Towsend household, Dallas has been “branded the lazy one, with the lack of ambition and abundance of free time” (5). Dallas has a passion for reading and literature but doesn’t enjoy her time at Emory University and ends up dropping out near the start of the novel. Instead, Dallas prefers to spend her time in her favorite fictional worlds. Reading lets her entertain her imagination and develop fanciful dreams; books also teach her about relationships and give her insight into the world around her.