Love: A Novel

Content Warning: This section discusses racism, sexual assault, child abuse, child marriage, and violence.

Heed the Night Cosey (née Johnson) is one of the protagonists of Love. She was a childhood friend of Christine’s who was sold in marriage to Bill Cosey when she was only 11 years old. This trauma and The Corruption of Innocence inform her entire life, including the feud that she has with Christine over Cosey’s estate. Over the course of her life, she changes from an innocent and vulnerable child to a bitter woman who believes that she has no friends in the world except her husband, whom she calls “Papa.” She romanticizes her marriage to “Papa” despite their age gap, his infidelity, and his frequent neglect of her. She is not accepted by his family and sees their reaction as jealousy and sees her husband as her champion: “Only Papa knew better, had picked her out of all he could have chosen” (71-72). This suggests that the marriage gives her an opportunity to escape the ramifications of her social class, yet she believes that Cosey’s family, especially May, refuses to accept her because of her poor beginnings. She grew up in a shack and never learned to read.