Garden Spells

Claire is one of the major protagonists of the novel and one of the most frequent point-of-view characters. When the novel begins, she is 34 years old and has lived in Bascom, North Carolina, since she was six. Claire is described as pretty, “all dark hair and eyes and olive complexion” (13). She is reserved and guarded and has a reputation in Bascom for being standoffish. She is skilled at food preparation and knows how to use the plants in her garden to prepare dishes that can influence people in certain ways. She generally does this with the consent and cooperation of her subjects, as when Ariel Clark hires her to give Emma’s party an ambiance of financial and marital success, or the fact that she distributes her rose geranium wine each year only to the person in town who most needs it. Claire takes satisfaction in her culinary talent, and she doesn’t find it strange that the Waverleys should have a sentient apple tree or that Waverley women should possess magical talents. Despite her magical inheritance and her outsider status in town, Claire is the manifestation of good sense and fortitude. Sydney thinks, “She seemed comfortable, the way their grandmother used to seem comfortable.