“It was a long time before I realized this magical place was a real country, just across the ocean from Massachusetts. She laughed when I asked her—was England like Neverland?—and soon it became a teasing sort of joke between us. England was a dream place, but one that maybe I would someday get to visit.”

Anna’s flashback to her childhood captures her lifelong interest in London, England. Since she was a little girl, the place has represented magic to her. Her conviction that London was like Neverland—the magical world from J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan—conveys why Anna is so attached to the setting in the narrative present. She has finally realized her girlhood dream of traveling to this place; in turn, she hopes that the city will remake her.

“In the end, when I’d told him I was leaving, there’d been no official falling-out. It had felt more like a splitting open, like the dried husk of my worn-out family had finally, with one last tap, cleaved apart and released me. And still, sometimes I missed the feeling of enclosure. It was a thing I hadn’t yet found a replacement for.”

Anna’s reflections on her relationship with her dad speak to her desire for belonging. Her mother’s death and her subsequent estrangement from her father have augmented her sense of alienation. Although she’s made it to London, she still longs for “the feeling of enclosure” a family might provide her. She hasn’t “found a replacement” for the home and family she recently lost, which in turn causes her to seek acceptance within Faye Wilder’s, Theo’s, and Tess’s social sphere.

“I was often charmed by my students. Sixteen, seventeen years old, they felt like raw, unformed potential, the world opening for them, their skill and privilege. Their lives had an inevitable forward momentum, like they couldn’t choose wrong. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.”

The way that Anna regards the students she tutors foreshadows the hold their elite lifestyle will have on her. She envies their “potential,” “skill,” “privilege,” and “momentum” because she feels stuck in her own life. In large part, she attributes her stasis to her financial struggles. Embedding herself in the Wilders’ world is Anna’s way of trying to secure the ease she believes her students have.

“I gathered my books and notes and went out to the terrace. […] Hard to keep my eyes on my work, with that view: the sailboats like little origami birds, the sea throwing back its own light, reflective and fluid like a sequin dress. And the bright continental sun above, welcoming me, pressing on me like a hot hand.”

Anna’s use of figurative language conveys the impact of the Saint-Tropez setting on her psyche. She describes the view from her terrace using diction like “light,” “reflective,” “fluid,” “bright,” “welcoming,” and “pressing.” This language captures the allure of her new surroundings. She feels as if she’s bathed in light and that this light is inviting her into a new way of being.

“I ran my fingers over the fabric, light like a breath of air. It really did remind me of the rosé: cool, delicate, the faintest hint of pink. The headiness of that first night out. Too expensive, almost certainly, but the euros were there, in my pocket. And Callum was right. No one else was getting me a Christmas gift.”

The new scarf that Anna buys for herself when she’s in the South of France offers the illusion of acceptance in Callum’s world. She compares the scarf to “a breath of air” and the look and feel of expensive wine. These metaphors imply that the scarf is decadent; Anna hopes that owning and wearing the scarf will gain her entrance into the elite sphere her new friends occupy.

“I couldn’t help it; I laughed. If that was how she felt about London, she’d probably spontaneously combust in my hometown. Bored to detonation within minutes, just a pile of ash and a smoking pair of high heels.”

This passage provides insight into why Anna withholds the truth from her new friends and fuels the novel’s explorations of Self-Reinvention Versus Authenticity. Anna’s response to Lucy’s derogatory remarks about London reveals how out of place she is amongst Faye’s friends. While the image of Lucy combusting lends the passage a humorous tone, it also implies that Lucy would reject Anna if she knew where she really came from.

“It had never occurred to me that not fitting in could be a good thing. Theo thought I was smart, and funny, and pretty; he didn’t know I was broken, motherless, floundering. He never had to.”

Anna chooses to hide the truth of her origins from Theo because she’s trying to control how he sees her. However, by withholding the truth, she inadvertently disempowers herself. She is trying to deny the “broken, motherless, floundering” aspects of herself to maintain the “smart,” “funny,” and “pretty” facade that Theo seems to value. The moment captures how Anna’s attempts at self-reinvention are compromising her authenticity.

“As a teenager, I’d read jealously about the parties at Jay Gatsby’s mansion, and tonight I would disappear into that fictional, mythical world. I would look the part, fit right in. And then it would be January, and the spell would be broken. I’d leave my glass slippers and catty fairy godmother […] and go back to real life in London. Would I be different there when I returned?”

Anna compares her time in Saint-Tropez to a scene from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. This literary allusion highlights Anna’s passion for literature and underscores The Seductive Power of Wealth as a central theme in the novel. Dressed in Faye’s clothing and attending the Wilders’ gallant party feels like entering one of Anna’s favorite fictional worlds. At the same time, this experience estranges her from her “real life in London” and her true self. The allusion to Cinderella—affected by references to spells, glass slippers, and fairy godmothers—also implies that there will be consequences for forsaking the truth.

“I slipped my feet in and laced them up hurriedly before I could examine the act and feel strange about it. Faye had lent me clothes before. Shoes almost daily. If she were here, she’d be dressing me herself, pushing me out the door, telling me to borrow the beautiful waxed navy raincoat hanging to my right, too, in case it rained wherever Theo was taking me.”

Anna’s internal monologue conveys her desire to justify wearing Faye’s clothes without explicit permission. Anna dons Faye’s designer sneakers without thought, suggesting that she already sees herself as a member of Faye’s world. Even when she does momentarily reflect on the implications of the action, she refuses to meditate on them. She wants to believe that Faye wouldn’t mind her borrowing her clothes, because she wants to believe she belongs in Faye’s world.

“I didn’t want to tell Theo about it. This thing with him was heady, intoxicating—why weigh that down? I didn’t have to complicate our time together with any ugliness. I didn’t have to let those two worlds meet.”

Anna’s decision to keep Theo at an emotional distance contributes to the novel’s explorations of Self-Reinvention Versus Authenticity. Anna believes that she has to hide her true self and true origins in order to experience the “heady,” “intoxicating” ease of Theo’s world. She believes that her past is “complicated” and “ugly” and that Theo’s life is uncomplicated and beautiful; if she lets “those two worlds meet,” she’ll have to give up the facade she’s hiding behind.

“Which was more annoying, his patronizing tone or how easy it was for him to get to me? I turned in my chair toward the fire, away from him, and tried to listen to what Theo was saying—something about EU policy, or rates, or tariffs. I pulled my fingers through my hair, attempting to unknot what the wind had done.”

The image of Anna turning away from Callum and toward Theo symbolizes her desire to inhabit a fanciful version of herself. Callum sees the real Anna, which terrifies her because she fears vulnerability, which leaves her feeling exposed and unprotected. Theo doesn’t see Anna for who she truly is, and lets her play the part of the wealthy elite young woman she wants to be. Further, the image of her running her fingers through her hair represents her desire to present a neat, uncomplicated facade to the world.

“I let my fingers touch the glass. Here I was, surrounded by fragments of the authors I’d grown up reading. This was why I’d come to London, wasn’t it? I’d been sure that I would be able to feel them here, even if it was decades or centuries after they’d lived and written. And I could; there was magic here.”

Visiting the British Library helps Anna to reconnect with a more authentic version of herself. The image of her touching the display glass at the library is symbolic of her desire to hold on to the things she truly cares about. Further, the setting feels magical and immerses her in the beauty and wonder of the literary worlds in which she’s always sought comfort.

“Being with Theo, being in Highgate, everyone assumed I was like them. I didn’t have to do much but omit—that I was living in the Wilders’ house, that I was working as a tutor, that not all the clothes I wore were mine. Brushing past these facts didn’t feel good, but it was better than feeling the way I had in Saint-Tropez, with Faye’s friends: like a second-class citizen.”

Anna gives her new friends power over her by hiding her true self from them. She withholds information about her family, past, and economic circumstances because she finds these facets of her life shameful. She is afraid of being treated like “a second-class citizen,” but in reality, Anna already sees herself this way. Her negative self-regard reinforces the insecurities she’s struggled with since her childhood.

“The mirror showed me an Anna Byrne who made sense here. Under the silk blouse, I felt the cold metal of my mother’s kitchen scissors on my shoulders again, and I wondered what she would make of the well-dressed girl in the mirror, and the life that girl was dressing up to create.”

Wearing Faye’s clothes lets Anna hide behind a facade of wealth and luxury. When she dons Faye’s “silk blouse,” she feels like a different version of herself. At the same time, her conscience reminds her that this is not who she is or where she came from. She is remembering her mother while regarding a curated iteration of herself in the mirror—an image that captures the dichotomies between her reinvented self and her authentic self.

“‘These are my friends, Anna. I’ve known them my whole life. And now I have to either lie to them or blow up your cover story. Like, it’s weird enough that you’ve decided you’re going to lie to them, but you’ve also decided that I’m going to. So yeah,’ he finished irritably, ‘probably I’m not doing a great job pretending to enjoy it.’”

Callum’s frustration with Anna’s lies of omission challenges Anna to reclaim her true self. Callum is confronting Anna about how her deceptions are affecting him. He is therefore urging Anna to own the truth. While this scene of dialogue doesn’t immediately compel Anna to change, it does foreshadow the lessons Anna will learn once she faces the consequences of her behavior.

“‘Blends right in.’ I stiffened under his arm, bruised by the comment. But everyone was smiling, like he hadn’t said anything rude. And really, had he? Wasn’t I glad to blend in? Isn’t that why I’d bought the dress?”

Anna’s internal monologue in this scene conveys the internal tension she feels with the Power Dynamics of Interpersonal Relationships. Anna is “bruised” by Theo’s suggestion that she blends into his world simply because she bought an expensive dress. At the same time, she isn’t sure she should feel hurt because this is the effect she wanted. The questions she asks herself highlight her internal tension throughout the novel, and her struggle to navigate the seductive power of wealth.

“The happiness felt like a heaviness in my body, like gravity pressing me into this beautiful spot, holding me here until I understood that everything, in that moment, was perfect. Whatever I’d come here for—left home for—it had all been worth it.”

Anna’s trip to Lisbon, Portugal, with her friends offers her the illusion of happiness, ease, and acceptance. She tries to convince herself that her recent experiences abroad are not only “beautiful” and “perfect,” but the realization of her dreams. However, she describes her alleged happiness as a pressing, heavy weight—a description that evokes notions of guilt and suffocation. Indeed, Anna did not leave home to live a decadent life; she is denying her true desires to reinvent herself according to her new friends’ expectations.

“In the next square I came to, people were standing around drinking, and a band played samba under an awning. A few couples danced in the rain, laughing, spinning, wet hair whipping, and I felt how wet and cold I was, and how alone.”

Anna’s external surroundings contrast with and abrade her internal experience. Whereas the Lisbon locals are “standing around drinking,” listening to a band play music, and dancing and laughing in the rain, Anna is stumbling around wet, cold, and crying. The dichotomy between her physical environment and emotional sphere underscores the compromising nature of her circumstances. She has been lying to herself about who she is and what she feels to fit into a place she doesn’t belong.

“‘I know it’s terrible. I know. Selfish and superficial.’ I had to stop again, clear the sound of tears from my throat. ‘But even this sort of half-true happiness feels a hundred times better than anything I’ve had since my mom died.”

Anna opens up to Callum in this scene of dialogue, marking a turning point in her self-discovery journey. Throughout the novel, Anna has tried to avoid Callum because she knows he sees through her. In this scene, she owns her mistakes and tries to explain why she’s hidden the truth from Callum’s friends. Her ability to articulate this aspect of her experience conveys Anna’s capacity for self-reflection and change.

“And instead of loving that feeling, as I usually did, I felt a tremor of misgiving in my stomach. A premonition? I turned to Theo, uncertain, but he bent down to kiss me and then put his arm around me, and I felt like myself again, like nothing strange had happened.”

The physiological premonition Anna feels in this scene foreshadows her climactic encounter with Faye at the Billionaires Row party. Anna acknowledges that she has misgivings about the party and Theo. However, she chooses to ignore her intuition because she’s afraid of owning her mistakes. Her avoidant habits have life-changing implications in the subsequent scene.

“I had always enjoyed cleaning the house—every room was so elegant, so meticulously designed and decorated—but these hours felt like penance, like the only small start I could make on turning back all my mistakes. Because in reality, I couldn’t fix any of it.”

The image of Anna meticulously cleaning the Wilders’ Highgate home conveys her guilt and shame. She likens the activity to “penance,” which suggests that she wants to atone for hurting the family and lying to her new friends. At the same time, straightening the home is a superficial action that can’t “fix any of it.” This moment conveys Anna’s desire for forgiveness, foreshadowing the work she’ll have to do to make amends with the people she’s hurt.

“Tell them you’re the kind of person who loves helping students do their best work, who’s used to working hard, putting in long hours. The kind of person who’ll stay with a friend and his broken-down car and pay for oysters she didn’t order. […] Tell them the truth.”

Callum’s use of anaphora in this scene of dialogue affects an insistent, heartfelt tone. Callum is advising Anna on how to approach her interview with the British Library. Instead of telling her to pretend she’s someone she’s not to get the job, he reminds her to be herself because she is good enough. Callum’s encouragement and validation compel Anna to reclaim her authentic self.

“‘Your mum would be so proud of you,’ he said when I’d finished. ‘You’re here, finally happy, finally where you belong.’ I didn’t need to say anything; Callum was right. I did belong here. I heard myself laughing, almost tipsy.”

Anna and Callum’s conversation after Anna’s first day at the British Library ushers Anna toward happiness and redemption. Callum is again validating Anna by recognizing her simultaneous loss, longing, and strength. He understands what Anna has gone through but is also acknowledging all she’s accomplished since. His words inspire Anna to feel pride in herself. The image of her laughing suggests that she has found true contentment.