The protagonist of the story is Elizabeth, a young woman who is taking time away from college to earn a bit of money and discover a sense of direction.

By happenstance, she ends up landing in Baltimore near the home of Mrs. Pamela Emerson, a recent widow and the mother of seven grown children.

The Clock Winder could be called Tyler’s “forgotten novel,” as it received little recognition, few reviews, and little financial success when it appeared in 1972.

[4] In 1972, Tyler had just returned to writing after taking off 5 years to raise two girls to school age, an experience that she feels gave her a “richer and deeper…self to speak from.”[3] At one point in the novel, it seems we hear Tyler herself speaking through the main character Elizabeth: “For every grownup you see, you know there must have been at least one person who had the patience to lug them around, and feed them, and walk them nights and keep them out of danger for years and years without a break...Isn’t that surprising?

People you wouldn’t trust your purse with for five minutes, maybe, but still they put in years and years of time tending their children along.” [5] Tyler, in her subsequent 15 novels, has continued to focus on the ties that push apart and pull together family members, though her definition of “family” includes any group of people that live closely together.