 The book is written from the perspectives of several people - Merlin Van Tornhout and Johnny Reeves, both members of the Klan; Sara Chickering, a farmer; Esther Hirsh, a six-year-old Jewish girl; Leonora Sutter, an African American girl; Iris Weaver, a restaurateur; Harvey and Viola Pettibone, shop owners; Reynard Alexander, a newspaper editor; Fitzgerald Flitt, the doctor; and Percelle Johnson, the town constable.In "Witness" Hesse continued the distinctive poetic/prose style she pioneered in "Out of the Dust".Hesse also wrote "The Music of Dolphins", about a girl who was raised by dolphins.