The Road To Redemption – Female Solidarity

CONTAINS SPOILERS

When I have written about I See Through You recently, or tried to sum up what is it about, for some reason I have always concentrated on the ghosting aspect. I’ve tended to talk about it as if that is what the novel hangs on, and no doubt about it, Skye’s careless and irresponsible lover Johnny provides the catalyst for what happens when he inexplicably and silently disappears from Skye’s life. But fixating on his toxic masculinity has meant I’ve been ignoring an important element which is the realisation of female friendship.

I was brought up reading romance novels, and devoured them all, from Georgette Heyer to Jilly Cooper and perhaps this has something to do with why I’ve focussed on Johnny, the male anti-hero. It’s as if (even though I made sure he doesn’t triumph) I can’t remove him from the central tenets of the book and he is still – albeit inadvertently – what it is all about.

But it is actually a woman, a Louise to Skye’s reluctant Thelma who provides the optimism and solace in the last quarter of the book, and fills the space left by Johnny’s absence. And fills it so emphatically that the two females in the novel realise they are better off without intervention and rescue from a male love interest. Johnny is irrelevant in the end and his absence is not a ‘without’; they have each other.

Skye is an orphan with abandonment issues and doesn’t understand love. Her aunt, who took her in has suffered losses of her own and the care she provides for Skye is of a rough and practical sort. Skye is introverted and prickly and doesn’t trust people (women least of all) and it is against this background that she meets Johnny. She is dazzled by his easy, sincere affection, his loose compliments and finally, dangerously, his declaration of love. Of course she crumples. She falls catastrophically for this Prince Charming and because I don’t want to dwell on him, I’ll move on quickly: he lets her down and in the cruellest of ways.

Cue transition to ‘crazy woman’ and in the midst of her grief, Skye does become a little unhinged – but only a little, and actually I was always rather admiring of the courage and imagination that ‘Molly’ shows. She is not a passive heroine – but she does need some help. I thought it was time to finally do away with “the madwoman in the attic” trope. (I always preferred Wide Sargasso Sea to Jane Eyre anyway), and Anna was the solution.

Unsure who she can trust, Skye initially loathes Anna, and instinctively feels they are in competition with each other. But she has gathered most of her information from the pit-bull arena that is social media and it does not reveal Anna’s strengths; the most important of which are her large-heartedness and sense of loyalty. Skye needs to revise her opinion of Anna, and women generally.

Anna provides a new energy and light. She is funny, irreverent and brave. She too is on her own, but she has a large family and understands what it means to look out for and love each other. Having never witnessed it, Skye is transfixed by Anna’s kindness to Nora when they travel up to Torcastle. Never believing anyone could, Skye is amazed when Anna forgives Skye her lies, and Anna is also honest about her own lies  – which have mainly been to herself and the level of influence Johnny has had over her.

Big Little Lies, the novel by Liane Moriarty and series by the same name, is really a premise which hangs on female solidarity and instead of women dividing and conquering they are forging connections with each other and sticking together through tragedy and chaos. This is a crucial aspect of I See Through You; redemption comes in the end not from Prince Charming, now happily defunct, but from good honest female friendship. The comfort and reliability it offers is all Skye and Anna need.

—

Thank you @GillianKJohnson, illustrator and @Kefi_kefi, screenwriter

DAISY McNALLY writes from her home in Oxford where she lives with her two children and spends as much time as she can with her partner James on the Beaulieu River near Lymington in Hampshire. She is a Durham University English Lit graduate and more recently of Bath Spa University where she gained a distinction in the MA in Creative Writing. She is currently working on her second novel for a PhD in Creative Writing.

Twitter @daisy_mcnally

I See Through You

‘A beautiful and extraordinary debut novel. . . full of intelligence and utterly gripping’ Claire Kendal, author of The Book of You

It started with a lie . . .

Skye has finally met someone she can trust. A holiday romance, of all things. But you know when something real comes along, when it’s meant to be. Don’t you? A week after returning home, and Johnny has disappeared. He hasn’t called or returned her messages.

Then, with the easiest of lies, Skye finds a way back in to Johnny’s life – and to the people in it. When she makes an unlikely friend, they realise that Johnny is telling lies of his own. So will the two women find a way to bring him down – or each other?

It ended with the truth.

A perfect page-turning read for anyone who has enjoyed I LET YOU GO by Clare Mackintosh, 
THE SILENT WIFE by Kerry Fisher or YOU by Teresa Driscoll

‘A wonderful read for those who enjoy authentic characters, exquisite writing and intriguing plotlines. I loved it’ Melanie Golding, author of Little Darlings

‘A brilliant, page-turning novel with plenty of twists‘ Irish Examiner

‘I was hooked … I couldn’t read fast enough to see how it would all end’ Goodreads reviewer

‘A beautifully written book. The author is very skilled, and writes clever description, but in a way that feels very natural … her prose is wonderful’ Goodreads reviewer

I SEE THROUGH YOU is published by Orion and available in paperback, kindle and audio.

Buy the book HERE

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Category: On Writing