Arianne had discovered, somewhere around the fourth journal, that her mother's writing wasn't organized by year.
The first three volumes had followed a rough chronology—before marriage, pregnancy, the devastating aftermath of Arianne's birth. But after that, Ysabella had written whenever she could, filling pages as the mood struck her, sometimes daily, sometimes with gaps of weeks between entries. Once Arianne reached the age of seven, the entries became more frequent. Her mother had written almost every day, filling one journal after another with observations, fears, hopes, and the small, precious details of her daughter's life.
