I haven't access to the book at present, but am quite sure that you are quoting correctly. However, I'm not sure that I'm convinced about the "authorial voice".
I think that Forest has a very delicate line in irony, along with her gift for expressing the varying points of view of her characters, and I'm not convinced that there is an authoritative ( ha!) authorial voice.
I'd need to read again the passage, of course, to argue this point fully - and to find other examples - but my guess is that the author might at this point be expressing other points of view (e.g. FAMILY)than her own.