The five main characters in the book are a deconstruction of one woman. She is faced with acknowledging and processing her experience of violence, from when she was just a child, and into adulthood. The impact of the violence on her life and her choices leads to her disintegration, bit by bit, throughout her life, until she must choose whether to give up on life, or form a new, whole identity, and start over. The coming together of the characters and the sense of overcoming end a journey that was difficult and life-changing, and transform it into an inspirational story of hope.

The book is based on the psychology of dissociation which in the extreme develops into Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder. DID is characterised by the presence of two or more distinct personality states. Each personality state has its own identity with a unique name, characteristics, and personal history. The disorder is usually a result of trauma, and is a means of avoiding traumatic memories when someone has experienced trauma, like childhood sexual abuse.

Five Seats is not a light, happy story: violence does not make for easy reading. The effects of violence on children and adults who are on the receiving end of it create a state of identity disarray as it challenges victims to question their own complicity. In addition, once the effects of violence on their decisions is identified, survivors have to decide which life-decisions they want to revisit, reject, change, confirm or accept, requiring them to forge a new identity. This doubt of their own true innocence and questioning of their identity leads to many emotional, physical, spiritual, cognitive, and social challenges. The repurcussions of violence are far-reaching, and require a life-long commitment to overcoming.

When Little Girl is sexually abused, her personality structure disintegrates, and her child identity is pushed into the background. Although she grows up privileged and becomes a high functioning individual, she separates various components of her personality into distinct identities for most of her life, calling upon each multi-dimensional identity depending on the context she finds herself in.

The main character’s sexual energy is concentrated within Virago, who uses sex to keep others at arms’ length. She is physically beautiful, and compulsively forces her power on innocent victims, while wielding power over weak and strong men alike. She is fierce but aloof, and lonely, as she struggles to form meaningful attachments.

Madonna is intuitive, and in many ways the opposite of Virago. She makes a fresh start to counteract her ‘bad’ deeds and the resulting guilt. However, she cannot escape her past, and her sinfulness and the evil that she was trying to leave behind are everywhere. She is a spiritual being, but struggles to preserve her faith in a higher power and greater good, while rejecting the dogma, traditions, and hypocrisy of formalised religion.

The most public persona of the main character is Working Girl, an imposing, professional businesswoman. She is an intellectual, and a leader. Working Girl is known for her perfectionism, hard work, and high ethical standards. However, in her never-ending pursuit of being seen, heard, and acknowledged, she takes on too much, and burns out.

Ancient Woman is empathetic, and nurturing. She focuses her energy on searching for beauty, love, and happiness. However, she also carries the hidden disillusionment, frustration, and anger that results from her experiences of violence. Ancient Woman cries when she is angry, and buries pain deep inside her, where it festers, surfacing as depression throughout her life.

Each of the five identities unravel at various times throughout the woman’s life, precipitated, at least in part, by violent events. When faced with a life-or-death choice between acknowledging how and why each identity came to be, or maintaining the separate identities that would invariably ruin her life and result in her demise, she chooses the difficult journey of embracing them all and becoming whole by finding what she had lost and reclaiming who she was, who she became and who she wanted to be.