Corinne Malvern a character supposed to be three years old), a 1907 New York Evening Telegram article and ships' passenger records, make it clear she was born in 1901. Malvern performed in the Henry W. Savage New English Grand Opera Company in the American premiere of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly in the role of the child "Dolore" ("Sorrow," or "Trouble" in English), Butterfly's son, in front of an audience that included the Viscount Aoki, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, and John Luther Long, author of the novella on which the opera was based, on October 15, 1907, and subsequently toured with
A Son Called Gabriel – or reconcile with his homosexual leanings. The novel's first person voice is a defining stylistic trait. In an interview for Conversational Reading, McNicholl noted that the voice was very deliberately constructed: "I wanted the narration and dialogue to portray the boy’s innocence and growth in awareness as he matures, but I had to be careful because the book is intended for an adult audience and thus had to be sophisticated and credible simultaneously." Publishers Weekly emphasized how this voice does a good job representing its adolescent narrator: Awkward, sometimes tender sex scenes—with both genders—recall all the clumsy uncertainties of