The Girls in the Garden: A Novel

“I was just thinking what a cute little flat it was and suddenly it’s like Narnia, there’s all these tall trees and pathways and a lawn.”

Jewell includes letters from Pip to Chris in Chapters 1 through 13. This quote is from Pip’s first letter and alludes to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book in the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. This is an age-appropriate allusion for an 11-year-old and develops her perspective while highlighting the whimsical allure of the park.

“She said that Mum shouldn’t let us out in the park on our own, that there might be murderers and pedophiles hiding in the bushes!”

In this passage, Pip writes to Chris describing what her Granny (Clare’s mom) said about Virginia Park. This establishes the red herring of Grace’s attacker being someone older than her early in the novel, and it develops the theme of The Dual Nature of Green Spaces.

“Yes. Homeschooled children. Communal living. All very alternative. Verging on controversial. But to Adele, entirely and completely normal.”

This quote describes how Adele’s life looks from the outside and the inside, developing her character. She doesn’t feel that her choices are abnormal, but others—like her sister—have criticized them. The way Jewell uses short, incomplete sentences to separate the listed things can be compared to the separate, side-by-side apartments around Virginia Park.

“She heard the park whisper in their wake. It talked to itself about the things it knew, the secrets it held close within its pathways and crannies, its bowers and corners. It whispered about the people who lived behind the closed doors and the insular group of children on the bench, and of the days yet to come when the warmth of summer would bring it all back to life.”

Here, Jewell uses Pip’s perspective, which is full of youthful imagination, and anthropomorphizes Virginia Park. That is, the park exhibits the human characteristics of talking and keeping secrets, developing the theme of The Dual Nature of Green Spaces.

“Her daughters finding safe places away from her. Lies to cover up. Secrets to keep. And all the time, as a throbbing ominous backdrop, her husband, back to health, ready to reenter the world.”

This passage develops Clare’s character. She is jealous that Grace is spending time with Adele and concerned about Chris’s mental health. Again, Jewell uses short, incomplete sentences as part of a list, demonstrating how Clare compartmentalizes the different stressors.

“Pip felt vaguely jealous of this dead girl.”

The specter of Phoebe haunts Virginia Park throughout the novel. However, Pip is only “vaguely jealous,” meaning she feels less jealous toward a popular and interesting dead girl than Tyler feels toward Grace. There is an underlying jealousy in the community that motivates many of the characters and drives the plot forward.

“Adele lay wakefully, watching shadows move across the walls. Clare lay wakefully, watching shadows move across the walls.”

Here, Jewell uses repetition to compare the two mothers whose points of view she uses. Adele and Clare are both thinking about Leo at this moment. However, while Adele is suspicious of Leo because of what she learned from Rhea about his past, Clare finds herself attracted to Leo.

“But there was something hypnotic about Leo’s enthusiasm, his keen presence by her side.”

This passage develops Leo’s character. Jewell builds him up, highlighting his positive and negative qualities, to establish him as a red herring. She throws the reader off track by hinting that Leo is the person who attacks Grace. The word choice of “hypnotic” emphasizes how Leo can be attractive but also dangerous.

“It was like something out of one of her Jacqueline Wilson books: the feisty neglected daughter and the beautiful broken mother.”

This is one of Jewell’s many allusions to Wilson and from the perspective of Pip. Wilson is a prolific British novelist who has authored over 100 books and specializes in children’s literature. Many characters in The Girls in the Garden love Wilson, including Pip, who is reminded of Wilson by Tyler’s home life.

“I mean, you know what that park’s like. Things happen in that park differently to how they happen in the real world. Different rules apply.”

This quote is from Cecelia, who is rumored to have killed her sister in Virginia Park. It can be compared to the green world of Shakespeare, such as the Forest of Arden, where social norms are abandoned and young lovers experiment. The positive and negative results of teenage experimentation, such as friendships and death, develop the theme of The Dual Nature of Green Spaces.

“It reminded Clare of one of those old-fashioned nativity calendars, with a beautiful vignette behind each door instead of a chocolate.”

In this simile, Clare mentally compares the apartments around Virginia Park to a nativity calendar. This illustrates how the living situation there is made up of connected, but separate, lives.

“I look at her daughter and I see the same thing in her eye that Phoebe had. The same look of hopelessness.”

This is something Rhea says to Adele about Tyler. The symbolism of eyes is frequently associated with Tyler, representing her jealousy. In many cases, her eyes are compared to her mother’s eyes, furthering the negative generational connection. In this quote, Tyler’s eyes are compared to her deceased aunt’s.

“She hated seeing her home, her children, her life through the fresh eyes of the professionals and tradesmen who occasionally had cause to be here: the awful shock of objectivity.”

Here, Jewell develops the idea of what makes a sense of “home.” This quote is what Adele thinks when the police come to her apartment to investigate Grace’s attack. She feels like strangers moving into and out of her home can be more objective and see how unconventional her lifestyle choices are.

“Stupid little girls get in over their heads. And look what happens.”

In this passage, Gordon blames teenagers for the problems that they face. He thinks Phoebe is to blame for what happened to her, and Grace is to blame for what happened to her, because they became sexually aware too young. Ironically, his misogynistic sentiment is somewhat correct, in that Tyler harms Grace because of her sexual act with Dylan.

“The flat had the slightly awkward air that homes often have when one returns after some time away: an uncomfortable loss of familiarity.”

This quote occurs when Clare and Pip return to their apartment for a change of clothes after being in the hospital with Grace, and it develops the theme of Relocation as Escape or Exile. They feel negatively about their home in the Virginia Park community upon returning to it. Grace feels even more negatively about the apartment and is completely unable to return to it, driven by her need to escape her environment.

“‘This book is shit. Do I have to read it?’ Adele sighed. It was Little Women. ‘Seriously?’ she said.

‘Yes. One hundred percent seriously. I still don’t understand why Jacqueline Wilson isn’t on the national curriculum.’”

Here, Catkin professes her love for Wilson and asserts that Little Women is outdated. She is very different from Pip yet loves the same author. Catkin’s assertion is a bold one, given the place of Louisa May Alcott’s book in the canon. However, both Little Women and Wilson’s books have been made into films, which speaks to the overwhelming popularity of the more recent author.

“’And what is an average thirteen-year-old?’ Fern considered the question. ‘I don’t think there’s any such thing,’ she said eventually.”

This dialogue between Adele and Fern offers insight into Jewell’s characterization of teenagers. They can range from the forgiving and tender Pip, to the bold and assertive Grace, and to the jealous and violent Tyler.

“It’s just history repeating itself. Isn’t it?”

Here, Tyler is trying to deflect from her own guilt. She blames Gordon and Leo because they were around when Phoebe died. Ironically, Tyler is correct—she is behaving similarly to her mother, who is suggested to have killed Phoebe.

“She wanted her to wake up, right now, like a princess from a fairy tale slumber, and then she wanted to say to her: Tell me tell me tell me. What happened in the Rose Garden?”

This passage is part of Pip’s thoughts while Grace is in a coma. Jewell uses both the demanding run-on sentence and the allusion to Sleeping Beauty to illustrate the mind of a 12-year-old. Her point of view is innocent and influenced by popular fairy tales that have been made into Disney films.

“Who was this man? This man who kissed thirteen-year-old girls?”

Here, Adele questions if she truly knows her husband. Jewell relies heavily on Adele’s suspicions, using her role as the main protagonist to turn Leo into a red herring. Tyler’s accusation is suspect, but Adele’s concerns are presented as more meaningful, given how much of the novel is from her point of view.

“Catkin is jealous because I’m younger than her but I’ve done more.”

Here, Grace mentally responds to Catkin’s insults about Grace performing oral sex, and she repeats the word “jealous” out loud to Catkin. Both the teenagers and adults are jealous in The Girls in the Garden. Significantly, the jealousy of Catkin and Tyler lead to an assault.

“You didn’t get all that you deserved. Not even half.”

For the last chapter of Part 2, Jewell uses Tyler’s point of view. Jewell includes Tyler’s private thoughts about attacking Grace, quoted above, to reveal Tyler’s lack of remorse and empathy, developing her characterization. There aren't any chapters from the perspectives of the Howes children or the male characters. Jewell only uses Adele, Pip, and Clare’s perspectives until Part 2. Then, she only adds the perspectives of Grace and Tyler.

“That’s why Virginia Park is the right place for you to live. Because you’re not scared of other people’s problems. Because you’re happy to leave the door open and let those problems just walk straight in.”

Clare says this to Adele when they reunite for the first time after Grace is attacked. Adele can handle The Dual Nature of the Green Spaces because she wants to learn about, and solve, people’s problems. She accepts the darkness along with the light, while Clare can’t handle the darkness of the private park.