Secrets of a Charmed Life

“I taught myself to sketch, Mrs. Crofton. I checked books out of the library and I practiced on any blank piece of paper I could find. And then we moved here and I saw the dresses in your shop and I knew I wanted to design my own wedding gowns. This is what I want to do with my life.”

Emmy states her desire to become a wedding gown designer—her greatest ambition. This quote helps establish The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility and shows how Emmy’s ambition makes her willing to do whatever she has to do to see her dream realized, especially as she approaches the age of 16. This brings her close to success as she grabs the attention of Graham Dabney, who designs costumes for the West End. However, it also brings disastrous consequences by causing her to bring Julia back to London just as the Blitz is about to begin.

“Instead of bouquets, the brides Emmy had left in Julia’s care now held enormous red polka-dot umbrellas.”

The passage explains the origin of Isabel’s Umbrella Girls paintings, as Julia once created umbrellas for her bridal sketches. It also foreshadows Emmy’s change from dressmaking to watercolor painting, with her Umbrella Girls paintings being both her way of coping with Julia’s disappearance and a symbol of her hope that she can one day find her. Her fondness of her sister and her passion for bridal gowns combine in these images—a sisterly collaboration.

“She reminded herself that Julia was her sister, not her daughter. This was Mum’s complication to work out, not hers.”

This passage highlights The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility that forms within Emmy. Though Emmy loves both her sister and mother, she resents the pressure her mother puts on her to take care of Julia, feeling that her mother is putting her in a parental role and not allowing her to grow on her own terms. This passage leads to a massive argument between Emmy and Annie in which Emmy chastises Annie and asserts her desire to establish her own life path.

“You don’t know everything. I know you think you do, but you don’t.”

This quote drives The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility by establishing that Annie’s life is largely a mystery to Emmy, and that she is misjudging her. This turns out to be true in many ways, with Annie’s mysterious dealings being meetings with Emmy’s father, who loved her and supported her financially. This, and Emmy’s own complicated relationship with Mac, lead her to better understand her mother later in the novel.

“‘I’ll be sixteen on my next birthday. I’m not a little child anymore. I have to think of my future and what I am supposed to do with my life.’

‘You’re supposed to be with me.’ Julia turned from Emmy, frowning.”

Emmy and Julia’s exchange continues to support The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility. The two sisters, who are usually so close and get along well, have a major fight in which Emmy feels that Julia expects her to give up her dreams for her. Meanwhile, Julia fears that Emmy’s work will take Emmy away from her. Emmy eventually decides she cannot choose between her dreams and her sister; this is why she takes Julia with her to London.

“She would look back on that moonlit night and wonder and wonder and wonder what she would have done had she considered that the owl that awakened Julia was divinely sent so that she wouldn’t leave Thistle House that night.”

The passage uses imagery of the night sky and the owl to show the secretive and forbidden nature of Emmy’s departure from Thistle House. Her hindsight makes her wonder if she could have made a different choice. This foreshadows the separation between Emmy and Julia and establishes why Isabel/Emmy regrets taking Julia with her to London. It also supports The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility by raising the argument that if Emmy had chosen responsibility, her sister and her could have been spared the trauma and turmoil they endured apart.

“For a long time, Emmy wished it had been the end of the world. A very long time.”

Isabel’s quote foreshadows the destruction and death of the Blitz that Part 2 will explore amid Emmy’s and Julia’s return to London. It suggests that the sisters will be separated in the Blitz, and that this will torment Emmy for years. It also sets the stage for the grief and pain Emmy will experience in losing her mother and Mrs. Crofton.

“Julia knew. That was why her behavior was so odd while she ate her lunch. She knew Emmy wouldn’t be showing anyone her brides today. Emmy had said the day before that she had only this one chance with the brides. Julia had deduced that if this chance was eliminated, she would never have to worry about the brides box parting them. Ever.”

This passage shows Emmy’s realization that Julia sabotaged her meeting with Mr. Dabney by switching out her brides box in an attempt to keep Emmy with her. Though this does keep her from going with Mr. Dabney in the end, the Blitz ends up parting the sisters anyway. Julia’s decision is later revealed to have caused terrible guilt and sorrow for her. As an adult, she tracks down Thistle House and has Isabel’s daughter, Gwen, find the brides box, which is her way of atoning for ruining her sister’s chances of training as a designer. This passage also shows that the brides sketches are symbols of Emmy’s dream.

“She was Julia’s only living hope, and as such, her little sister’s guardian.”

After her mother’s death, Emmy realizes that she needs to grow up and take care of Julia once she finds her. This drives her to do everything in her power to find her, which ultimately leads her to abandon her ambition and take on the responsibility for her sister that she believes she should have taken before the Blitz. For this reason, this passage supports The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility.

“It could all still work out. Maybe it was possible that Mum would one day, indeed, look down on Emmy from heaven and see that she had rescued Julia and made something of herself. Perhaps in heaven, a mother was allowed to feel pride in a child’s accomplishments after her death.”

After finding Mrs. Crofton’s letter and seeing her suitcase, Emmy gets the brief hope that Mrs. Crofton and Mr. Dabney had not left yet. She entertains the thought of seeing her dreams materialize once again after she finds Julia, and she thinks about how she could take on responsibility for her sister and make her mother proud, hoping to create a balance in The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility. However, she realizes she is too late, as Mrs. Crofton died in the Blitz. Emmy, thus, ends up choosing responsibility over ambition.

“After a few weeks of being Isabel, and spending every waking moment either crouched under the sewing machine table or looking for Julia, Emmy began to forget her old dreams, and […] when she pushed the dresses aside, they […] no longer had anything to do with any dream of hers other than to find Julia.”

In The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility, Emmy abandons her old dream of becoming a dressmaker after she takes on the identity of Isabel Crofton. Overcome with guilt and fear, she makes finding Julia her ultimate goal and passion in life. She hopes to find Julia just as she helps others in London. This eventually leads her to develop another hobby and career in the form of painting.

“As Charlotte waited for an answer, Emmy realized she wished the box had been lost in the bombings. She wanted it to have been blown to tattered bits. It would’ve been a fitting end to them.”

The bride sketches appear as a symbol of Emmy’s old desire to be a wedding gown designer and a motif supporting The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility. She now dreads the sketches that once meant everything to her, feeling that they are what separated her from Julia. She associates them with her selfish decision to prioritize her burgeoning fashion career over her sister’s safety and finds herself wishing they could be destroyed as a form of self-punishment. She ultimately fails to find them, which relieves her.

“Emmy had long since put away the pieces of Charlotte’s wedding dress and had no desire to trifle with her bargain with God by sewing anything for anyone, so she used the money that Mac had given her and bought watercolor paints and canvases at an art store in Moreton.”

The passage shows Emmy replacing her old dream of sewing and dressmaking with watercolor painting, something she ends up doing for a living as Isabel MacFarland. This allows her to enjoy a passion that she does not associate with The Conflict Between Personal Ambition and Responsibility and her failure to protect her sister. She uses the concept of bargaining with God to show that she is in a stage of grief; she hopes that if she gives up dressmaking, the thing that led to Julia’s disappearance, then God will reward her by bringing Julia back.

“Thistle House had been her refuge, a sanctuary after the war had taken everything from her.”

Thistle House appears in this quote as a symbol of safety and comfort for Emmy after losing her mother and Mrs. Crofton and being separated from Julia. She is hesitant to leave it, feeling safe there and being afraid to experience happiness, even if it is with a man she loves. Charlotte eventually convinces Emmy to follow her heart and marry Mac. She does this, and when she returns to Thistle House, it is for happiness, and not as an escape from her guilt.

“I am saying, when you make a choice, even if it is a bad one, you’ve played your hand. You cannot live your life as though you still held all your cards.”

Isabel’s quote highlights The Impact of War on Personal Destinies by presenting the argument that war is a large circumstance that is too great for an individual to have full control over. This philosophy has allowed her to forgive herself for what happened and move forward in her life. She later restates this near the end of her interview with Kendra.

“I am not such a significant creature in God’s universe that it is my decisions alone that can change the destiny of another.”

Charlotte’s assertion that her choice was not the only one that led to Rose’s disability throughout her life shows the large scale of God’s will and fate. This allowed her to forgive herself, and she wants Emmy to forgive herself, too, specifically for Julia’s disappearance—it is no one’s fault that people cannot stop The Impact of War on Personal Destinies.

“Actually, Dr. Diamant says you do not haunt me, Emmy. I haunt myself with everything that is left undone between us. This journal will allow me to say what I need to, she says. It will allow me to move on.”

Julia’s journal symbolizes her attempts to reconnect with Emmy and overcome her grief. It also acts as a motif supporting The Resilience of the Human Spirit in the Face of Loss and Adversity by showing how Julia has endured trauma and guilt and become a better, braver, and more selfless person as she overcame her hardships. The journal helps her put the past and her guilt to rest.

“She said sometimes on the road to healing, you must reopen an old wound.”

Julia’s quote about Dr. Diamant’s advice to her highlights The Resilience of the Human Spirit in the Face of Loss and Adversity. She expresses doubt that she can deal with the trauma of losing Emmy and confronting the terror she felt in the Blitz. However, she shows that through her work with Dr. Diamant and, later, her visits and move to London, she can heal from her painful past.

“Dr. Diamant says the war is to blame for what came between you and me.

I look around London and I see all the new buildings. It’s obvious that what the war did has been fixed.

What I did is what I must fix.

I want to fix what I broke.”

Julia’s quote supports The Impact of War on Personal Destinies by showing that Dr. Diamant does not blame her or Emmy for each other’s actions, and that war is the force that led to their separation. However, Julia asserts that she can at least make things right with her sister by retrieving her bride sketches. She sees it as her chance to forgive herself and make peace with her sister’s absence.

“But I have survived much, Emmy. Haven’t I? Haven’t I survived the war and the loss of my childhood, my parents, and my sister? Haven’t I come back to London? Haven’t I looked for you? Haven’t I agreed to write this journal? Haven’t I embarked on the mission to find your brides? And haven’t I done all that alone?”

Julia shows The Resilience of the Human Spirit in the Face of Loss and Adversity by highlighting all that she has endured during and after the war. She wants to show Simon and Emmy that she is strong enough to confront her past. Stylistically, this persistent desire is emphasized by the author’s use of anaphora and rhetoric in the repetition of the phrase “Haven’t I.” This desire drives Julia to seek the brides box in an attempt to bring her peace and restore Emmy’s dreams.

“I have your forgiveness. I see it in the snow outside my window and I felt it earlier when your folds of white caressed my trembling body.”

The bride sketches appear somewhat as a symbol through the fully realized and created dress that Julia created from the sketch. The dress from the sketch symbolizes Emmy’s dream come true, made possible by Julia. The creation of the dress makes Julia feel the presence of her sister for the first time in 18 years; this allows her to finally to forgive herself and make peace with her past and the ambiguity of her sister’s fate, though the dress ends up bringing her and her sister back together.

“Strangely enough, war has a way of absolving us of the mistakes we make while in its dreadful shadow, but it keeps this absolution a secret. I didn’t realize I was playing my cards against a cruel opponent that had its own cards to play.”

Isabel’s quote restates her assertion that war complicates people’s choices, and that it makes people unaware of the many other possible choices they could have made. She uses this to show that she has forgiven herself by understanding this and The Impact of War on Personal Destinies. She hopes Kendra will use this philosophy to understand the world and fate better.

“You can give Mum the honor of having flesh and blood and a name again. I want people to know the sacrifices she made for me and Julia. […] I want her to see that I understand there are no secrets to a charmed life. There is just the simple truth that you must forgive yourself for only being able to make your own choices, and no one else’s.”

Isabel states that her central reason for having Kendra interview her was so that she could make her mother proud by showing how much Annie sacrificed for her daughters. She wants to show that she understands her mother better and realizes that she did the things she did out of love; she also wants to show her mother’s humanity and strength, especially as the war occurred, as her sole focus was her daughters’ safety. This is also where the book gets its namesake: The lesson that Isabel learns throughout this whole ordeal is that “there are no secrets to a charmed life,” and that forgiveness is an essential part of moving forward.