My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

Elsa is the novel’s protagonist and primary viewpoint character. Elsa is considered “different” due to her precocious nature. A voracious reader with a highly sophisticated vocabulary, Elsa is particularly fond of the Harry Potter series, which she has read many times. Because she doesn’t act like a typical seven-year-old, the other schoolchildren bully her, and the adults tell her that she needs to learn to fit in. Granny is the one person in Elsa’s life who celebrates her uniqueness, telling Elsa that “all the best people are different” (1).

Partly due to her difficulties fitting in at school, and partly due to her parents’ divorce, Elsa tends to keep people at arm’s length, to avoid being hurt or disappointed. She refuses to form a relationship with George, Mum’s immensely likeable boyfriend, or Lisette, Dad’s wife. Though the other tenants have lived in Elsa’s building all her life, they are little more than strangers to her. She doesn’t know any of their first names, referring to them instead as “The Monster,” “the woman in the black skirt,” and “the boy with the syndrome.” Thus, at the start of the novel, Granny is Elsa’s only friend.

By completing Granny’s mission to deliver all the letters of apology, however, Elsa gains empathy and compassion.