It was with apparent relief that Margaret Drabble had expanded her point of view in The Needle's Eye to two main centres of consciousness, with some insight into others. From the next novel, The Realms of Gold, onward, the role of the omniscient narrator increases and is used to place the characters’ own narrative sections in perspective and in relation to each other. Looking back from 1990, Drabble said ‘My principal linking device has been, increasingly, the use of the intrusive narrator, who bypasses the traditional narrative and speaks directly to the reader with a sort of immediate intimacy’. Though speaking particularly of The Radiant Way, she added that she had used this method earlier, if not so extensively.

The Realms of Gold is, Margaret Drabble says, a comedy, and as such the ironic tone of the narrator complements the reflections of the characters. Again the themes of heredity, upbringing and accident offer seductive answers to the questions about why things happen and why people are as they are. Heredity is a key element in The Realms of Gold, as the plot puts the question as to how far those with a similar heredity can make different choices and how far they can escape hereditary influence.

Most of the characters who are singled out for development are literally related: Frances Wingate, née Ollerenshaw, a successful archaeologist and divorced mother of four, is the major centre of consciousness, and is second cousin to Janet Bird, nee Ollerenshaw, an isolated provincial housewife with a baby and an ineffectual but aggressive husband. Their cousin David Ollerenshaw is a third, lesser figure in the novel. Occasional forays are also made into the minds of unrelated characters, most notably of Karel Schmidt, who is Frances's lover, and briefly into other lesser figures such as Janet's mother and the local solicitor.

Contrasts and similarities between these four main characters are reinforced by the comments of the narrator: for instance, Janet, as a young, insecure wife and mother is seen constantly pushing her pram around the unattractive, uninteresting local neighbourhood of Tockley, in contrast to Frances's more exotic busy life travelling to Italy and Africa.