48 pages • 1-hour read
Garden Spells
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Part 1, Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content.
Part 1: “Hindsight”
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Emma Clark Matteson is getting ready for a party. Clark women are known for craving the spotlight, loving attention from men, and marrying well, due to their sexual prowess. Emma’s husband, Hunter John Matteson, is considered a catch because he is handsome, his parents are wealthy, and he now runs the family business. Emma’s mother had planned for him to marry Emma since they were children.
When Hunter John fell in love with Sydney Waverley in high school, Emma’s mother advised Emma to befriend Sydney but give her bad information about sex. Hunter John broke up with Sydney at graduation, and Emma worked hard to catch his interest, resorting to getting pregnant so he wouldn’t leave for college. Now they are married with two children and live in his parents’ expensive home.
At the party, Emma learns from her friends that Sydney Waverley is back in town. Her mother warns Emma that she will have to work to keep Hunter John’s interest. Emma believes this means sex. As she seduces her husband that evening, she asks if he loves her, and he doesn’t answer. Claire is hired to cater a party at Mr. and Mrs. Matteson’s and asks Sydney to help.
Claire notices that Sydney seems jumpy, but Sydney won’t discuss where she has been the past several years. She is convinced that Sydney will leave again and notices that Sydney hasn’t told Bay about the apple tree or what being a Waverley means in Bascom.
Sydney invites Tyler over for dinner, and Claire is upset. She envies how Sydney talks easily with Tyler and “made it seem like it was no big deal to form connections when they were so easily broken” (84). Claire goes out to the garden, where the tree drops an apple on her head. Tyler approaches, and to Claire, it looks like he is surrounded by purple snaps of light. Tyler tells Claire she’s beautiful, and she replies that she is too busy to get involved with him.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Sydney reflects that she had loved Hunter John and being with him was her best memory, but she realizes now that he never accepted her for who she was. The Matteson house is gracious and luxurious, and Sydney reflects how “[s]he’d wanted this so much when she was young, this prosperity, this dream” (89). She’d wanted to belong in this world and was crushed to find out that she didn’t. Sydney observes that Claire’s placement of flowers and selection of food are designed to manipulate the guests into feeling certain emotions. Claire says Mrs. Matteson wants to be perceived as madly in love and fabulously wealthy.
Emma is enjoying the party and being the center of attention. Ariel, her mother, says she has a gift for Emma. Sydney comes onto the patio with Claire, carrying trays of food. Ariel says she arranged this so Sydney will look like a servant while Emma is the belle of the ball. Hunter John goes immediately to talk to Sydney, who is shocked to learn that he and Emma are married. Emma realizes her mother wanted to humiliate Sydney. Hunter John is upset and refuses to let Emma use sex later to placate him.
Claire tries to understand why Sydney is upset. She always thought Sydney left Bascom because Claire was unkind and made her not want to be a Waverley. Sydney says the whole town made her hate being a Waverley, and she doesn’t understand why it never bothered Claire that everyone thinks they are different and odd. Claire doesn’t understand her sister at all but doesn’t want to lose her again.
Sydney calls Tyler and asks him to pick her up from the party. Claire asks Tyler to bring some things from her garden and asks Sydney not to leave town before Claire is done working.
When Claire comes home, Sydney reveals that several of her former friends called to apologize to Sydney for humiliating her at the party. Claire reveals that she put lemon balm, dandelion leaves, and mint in the food. Ariel Clark, Emma’s mother, was angry and refused to pay Claire.
Sydney says she is staying in town for Bay to give her some safety. She mentions how she notices the purple light that Tyler gives off as he walks around in his front yard. Claire says Sydney might be more of a Waverley than she thought, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Sydney goes with Claire to Fred’s grocery store and, while returning the shirt Evanelle gave her, she sees the White Door salon nearby. Sydney misses doing hair and asks for a job working there. She wants people in Bascom to see what she can do, and then maybe they will think as highly of her as they do Claire.
Bay likes to lie on the grass under the apple tree. She reflects on how she knew she and her mother didn’t belong in Seattle, and Bay knows where things belong. She dreamed of coming here, but in her dream, she was lying under the apple tree with specks of light on her face, hearing a sound of paper in the wind. She often lies under the tree, waiting for that moment.
Bay asks Claire about the apple tree, and Claire explains that eating an apple from it shows a person what the biggest event in their life will be. Claire thinks a person shouldn’t know that. She takes the casserole she made to Tyler’s house, and Bay goes along. Claire is hoping that what she put in the casserole will make Tyler lose interest in her. He eats the dish, but it doesn’t have the effect Claire wanted. Tyler confides that his parents were artists, and his childhood lacked security and routine. Claire reflects that those are her areas of expertise.
Sydney doesn’t have customers at work and feels discouraged. Ariel confronts Sydney and says she can’t have Hunter John. Sydney points out that she didn’t come back for him. Hunter John comes into the salon later. Sydney thinks he is losing his good looks and turning into someone else. Hunter John wants Sydney to know he’s happily married, and Sydney emphasizes that she did not return for Bascom in hopes of seeing him; she’s here because it is her home. Hunter John says he is a Matteson and has to do what’s best for his name.
Sydney watches Claire preparing another dish for Tyler, this one with bachelor’s buttons, which make people see more sharply. Sydney wonders why she didn’t inherit the gift of understanding plants. Claire reflects that their mother hated the garden. Claire asks about the photos of their mother that Sydney took with her, and Sydney vividly recalls that she tucked them under the couch cushions at her home. One of the photos shows her mother holding a sign with Bascom, North Carolina, written on it, and Sydney fears David might find the photos.
Fred comes to Evanelle’s door and asks for a place to stay. He and James are no longer together. Fred says James has been leaving him by degrees, and he didn’t even notice. Fred mentions the spoon Evanelle once gave his father, which led to his meeting Fred’s mother. Evanelle reminds him that she doesn’t have the power to make things better.
Evanelle visits to give Claire a headband. Sydney mentions she isn’t getting any customers at the salon, probably because of Ariel. Claire visits Sydney at the salon and asks for a haircut. Sydney gives her a short, very flattering cut.
Part 1, Chapters 4-6 Analysis
The themes of identity emerge more strongly in these chapters with the introduction of Emma Clark and her life. Emma adds a further demonstration of how, in Bascom, family lineage shapes one’s identity by conferring a gift of which it seems the whole town is aware. In contrast to the nurturing act of food provision, which is a Waverley gift, the Clark women’s skill for sexual prowess is more self-serving, obtaining them desirable husbands. This identification of the Clark women with their sexual skill provides an example of a family having come to terms with and accepted their legacy, but it also raises the theme of The Appropriate Exercise of Talent as Emma uses hers to manipulate Hunter John.
This identification of the Clark women, however, raises the question of how immutable these identities or family legacies are. Ariel Clark’s insistence that Emma Clark must live up to the family reputation and keep her husband by satisfying him sexually suggests the Clark attribute is not so much a gift as a skill the women must actively employ. Further, Ariel Clark’s efforts to humiliate Sydney to make Emma look superior suggest an anxiety that Hunter John, or Emma, will not comply with what their family reputation demands of them. While Hunter John told Sydney it went against his family's expectations to marry a Waverley, Emma didn’t trust her own skill enough and resorted to pregnancy to compel Hunter John to marry her. This has led to her feeling insecure over Hunter John’s attachment to her, and this lack of trust in their assigned identities leads to questions over whether other characters might defy or deny their family fate—as Sydney did by leaving Bascom—and what the consequences will be.
The concreteness of family reputations and personal identity is tested not only by Ariel Clark’s vindictive efforts to make Sydney look inferior to Emma but also by Claire’s own ability to manipulate people with her plants. Emma is the character who voices the concern that her skill, in her case, sexual prowess, might not be enough to secure what she wants, and there might be some deeper power at work, like Hunter John’s old attraction to Sydney. Tyler’s eating the apple, and the results of that, as shown later, also play into the theme of how far a magical element can influence a person away from their natural beliefs or inclinations. While Ariel and Hunter John’s independent assumptions that Sydney has returned to Bascom to lure Hunter John away from Emma provide a comedic moment of misunderstanding, it also dwells on the impact of romantic love on a person’s life. This impact is further illustrated through Fred’s disintegrating romance with James, and in the character of Henry Hopkins, introduced in the next section.
Bay’s point of view reflects on the theme of The Influence of Place on Identity as well as The Appropriate Exercise of Talent, for Bay’s comfort with her own knack of knowing where things belong mirrors Claire’s comfort with her gift. Her identification with the Waverley family lineage through her ability helps her adjust to a new living situation, but the immutability of these family gifts or reputations is challenged when Claire’s efforts to manipulate Tyler through food fail. The purple sparks provide a metaphor for his desire for her, giving it a power that seems almost larger than him. Since Claire was able to influence the partygoers through her food selections, she questions why Tyler doesn’t respond as she intends. The hint that Tyler’s own family background has left him craving stability—something Claire values deeply—further indicates the compatibility between them, hinting at the development of a romantic subplot. Like Bay, Claire is negotiating her identity, looking for security, and trying to find where she truly belongs in the world.
The growing communication between the Waverley sisters demonstrates the theme of Healing Generational Wounds, and a significant moment of connection occurs in the scene with Claire’s haircut. Given Claire’s resistance to change and her fear of being vulnerable, she takes a huge emotional risk in asking Sydney to cut her hair. That she wants to do this for Sydney suggests that Claire’s love and wish for connection to her sister are stronger than her fear. Sydney’s flattering cut for Claire conveys several layers of meaning. The change readies Claire to accept further changes in her life. It also shows that, despite the tension between them as children, as adults, they are coming to care for and want the best for one another.
In addition, Claire’s new hairstyle puts Sydney’s talents on display in ways that will benefit her professionally, by demonstrating her skill, but also answer the question of whether Sydney belongs in this town. Claire confirms that she does by turning Sydney’s ability into an indication that she has inherited her own brand of Waverley magic. This is a gesture of acceptance that counters the rejection and humiliation Sydney encountered at the Matteson party. At the same time, while this acknowledgement cements Sydney’s belonging in Bascom, the image of David discovering the photographs that reveal the name of their town creates suspense that Sydney might not yet be completely safe.
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