The Story of Lucy Gault is about a nine year old girl who makes a big mistake by running away from home, thus her life turns upside down from then on.  The setting of the book which begins in 1921 is one of the major factors containing the reason for why Lucy left home. Therefore, the setting is the major factor leading to the many dilemmas as well as the major turning points of the story.

            The Gaults are a rich protestant family. They have had little to no problems in their lives until the civil unrest. The civil unrest during the time was caused due to a group of people disliking the English and inflicting violence upon them. In the story, the Gault family had first received the first inflict of violence when three boys tried to burn the Gaults house. The Gaults knew that they were under attack when they saw the inflammatory cans left behind after the boys had run away. During this event, Everand Gault who was the father had fired a few gunshots to scare the boys away. While he fired, he accidently shot one of the boys. This led the Gault family to apologize through letters, the priest as well as visiting the boys’ home. The boy showed no response of forgiveness, thus Mr. and Mrs. Gault foresaw more attacks in the future. The Gault’s felt that Mrs. Gault being English would cause more attacks during this time period (civil unrest). Everand and Heloise decide that they must leave and immigrate to England for their family’s safety, especially because their daughter was so young and needed protection. Lucy hearing the news of leaving felt like she should runaway to be rebellious because she did not want to leave her home. After Lucy ran and got her in the woods, her parents thought that she got washed away. And they left for England without Lucy. Because of the civil unrest at the time, the family felt like the only safe place is going back to England, thus this caused Lucy to run away and get lost. A whole series of events sprouts from this event which was caused by the civil unrest. The setting plays a major role in the beginning of the story and how things have turned out. If not for the specific time period, Lucy would not have had to run away.  

            One of the other big turning points in the book is caused by the World War 2. When World War 2 broke out, Everand and Heloise Gault moved away from Italy to Switzerland for their safety. When they moved to Switzerland, Heloise caught influenza and passed away. Because of Heloise death, Everand was forced to live and wander alone. He wandered the world and decided to visit Lehardane where his family had first stayed at before losing Lucy and leaving the country for England. At Lehardane, Everand reunites with his long lost daughter Lucy. Lucy being able to find her father gave her great relief and basically changed her life dilemma. She no longer felt guilty, knowing that her father forgave her. If not for the World War II breaking out, Lucy would not have been able to reunite with her father. The time period and the setting controlled the characters movement to different places, which caused massive influence to the story.

            The setting and time controlled the story because the loss of Lucy as well as the finding of Lucy by Everand was both resulted from two large events in time. The time and date began the story as well as ended it. It caused Lucy’s guilt as well as Lucy’s freedom from her guilt.