The Winthrop Woman is told from an omnipotent point of view. The reader is able to see into the thinking and actions of all of the characters, not just through a narrator's eyes. Anya Seton allows us to understand the feelings of the characters, and the reader is able to empathize with their predicaments because one has a greater understanding of them than they do of themselves. For instance, Daniel Patrick's admission of his Catholic faith and his surprising submission to a priest reveals a side of him that he had forgotten, since he was raised an Irish Catholic but spent his adulthood in Holland and the colonies.