The Secret Book Society

Eleanor Clarke is the novel’s main protagonist, a dynamic and round character whose hard-fought and hard-won journey to liberation forms the central narrative arc. At the outset, Eleanor embodies the predicament of a woman trapped by the societal expectations and domestic tyranny of the Victorian era. Eleanor’s cruel and wealthy husband, Cecil, has turned her life into a virtual prison by controlling her every move. To avoid Cecil’s wrath, Eleanor constantly reads his moods, navigating her days with a finely tuned hypervigilance. In this oppressive existence, Eleanor asserts her autonomy through one small realm of control: her fashion. She uses the color and structure of her gowns to soothe her frayed nerves and express the selfhood her husband seeks to crush. Her choice of a pale blue silk, for instance, is a private attempt to recall the “clear stretch of summer sky on her parents’ estate in Sussex” (8), a time before her life became one of constant fear.

Eleanor’s primary motivation to endure her terrible marriage is her love for her young son, William. This maternal devotion is both Eleanor’s greatest strength and her most painful vulnerability.