The Secret Place

“Joanne has always been the kind of person who doesn’t have to hate you to be horrible to you.”

Joanne is one of the novel’s key antagonists. A student at St. Kilda’s, she is the unofficial ringleader of her fashion-focused clique, which is collectively known for smugness, superiority, and cruelty. Although the group is not always overtly hostile to Holly’s friends, there is a distinct antipathy between the groups. Joanne is also capable of being cruel to her friends, and in this scene, she manipulates Orla into asking out a boy who is obviously not interested in her and who viciously mocks her advances.

“Girls want to tell their secrets.”

This novel is in part an examination of the impact of secrets and lies on individuals and groups. The author’s nuanced engagement with secrecy can be seen in the narrative’s exploration of the seemingly contradictory idea that those who keep secrets also harbor a desperate need to reveal them. At specific points in the novel, each of the eight girls reveals a secret that she hoped to hide, and in most cases, she does so because keeping the secret becomes too difficult. Even though harsh consequences might result, telling the secret releases an emotional burden that has become too heavy to bear.

“Orla wanted people to like her, to pay attention to her, to like her some more.”

To better understand each of the St. Kilda’s girls well and solve Chris’s murder, Antoinette and Stephen must pay attention to each of the girls’ behavior patterns and learn the broader social hierarchy that governs the student body. As a lowly member of Joanne’s group, Orla spends much of her time in Joanne’s shadow, desperately seeking acceptance and attention. By identifying this dynamic, Antoinette and Stephen can subtly prod Orla into providing more information than she might otherwise give them.

“Joanne wanted me to think she was important.”

In addition to being manipulative and capable of cruelty, Joanne is self-aggrandizing. She enjoys being the leader of her group and attempts to exert control over each conversation or interaction that she has, seeing these moments as moves in a broader chess game of social contracts and manipulations. She enjoys power, authority, and dominance, and she shamelessly exerts her control over even her closest companions, exuding a toxic vibe.

“The four hands twist into a knot wrapped with moonlight, fingers tangling, all of them trying to stretch wide enough to tighten around all the others at once.”

Friendship is at the core of this novel’s mystery, and this image serves as a powerful metaphor of connection, emphasizing the fact that the girls in Holly’s group value each another more highly than anyone else in their lives. They are willing to lie for one another and protect each another from mistakes and broader social consequences. Because they are so deeply bonded, they fall prey to The Dangers of Conforming to Group Dynamics, vowing to prioritize their collective group identity to the point that they commit crimes and sacrifice their own integrity.

“Something lying across her face, a long shadow, Becca had feelings about Chris Harper, good or bad, I couldn’t tell what.”

The disjointed, thoughtful tone of this quote captures the detectives’ methodical yet intuitive process of uncovering the hidden truths surrounding Chris’s murder. By getting to know the girls and reading their tone of voice and body language, the detectives seek to divine underlying motivations and assess the veracity of the girls’ accounts. Here, the detectives realize that there is more to Becca’s story than she has revealed.

“You’ve met Joanne Heffermen, right? If there’s anything she wouldn’t do for attention, I’d love to hear it.”

Julia’s derisive tone in this passage helps to illustrate the novel’s complex approach to characterization, for although Julia is accurate in her assessment of Joanne’s personality, she also uses this information to deflect attention from herself and her friends and toward Joanne. Her statement therefore illustrates her capacity for deception and manipulation, proving her to be a complicated, multifaceted character who is capable of both honest and unethical behavior.

“Everyone thinks girls blab everything, yap, yap, yap, like idiots. That’s total crap. Girls keep secrets.”

This blunt statement seeks to debunk common stereotypes about adolescent gossip and emphasize a more nuanced truth. Because secrets are a key facet of this novel’s thematic structure, the author displays many instances in which the girls both keep and tell certain secrets, acting on a complex behavioral code that the detectives often find difficult to parse. Although the girls burn to reveal their secrets and unburden themselves at one time or another, they also closely guard the dangerous truths that could incriminate themselves or their friends.

“The tabloids were getting their knacks in a knot. ‘Cops are going easy on the rich kids. There’s strings being pulled, that’s why there’s been no arrest.’”

Social class and the impact of privilege and wealth loom large over this novel. Both the detectives and the girls at St. Kilda’s are aware of the ways in which class shapes personal identity and external perception. Although Antoinette is working-class and does not hold much regard for prestigious schools like St. Kilda’s, she is singled out by the press for giving special treatment to these girls from influential, affluent families.

“I have self-esteem. I have enough self-esteem that I’m not going to wear something stupid just because everybody else is.”

Although Becca is the one to make this statement, the rest of her friends share this idea. Unlike Joanne and her group, Holly’s group does not try to conform to normative standards of dress or adolescent female behavior, and the two cliques’ mutual dislike is based on this ideological difference. Conformity is a trap, and although Joanne’s group chooses to conform, they resent Holly’s friends for their free-thinking independence.

“Orla’s face lit up with that thin malice. ‘Julia Harte had it. Probably she stole it, or one of them did. We got a copy off her. Joanne got it, I mean, not me.’”

As this scene demonstrates, the novel paints a complex, nuanced picture of the behavior and values of adolescent girls. On one hand, they are capable of close, fierce friendships, but they can also be petty, cruel, and manipulative—even to their friends. Here, Orla lays blame on both Julia and Joanne, and the detectives note that she does so not with trepidation or guilt but with gleeful “malice.” She is happy to place blame elsewhere, even if it means implicating one of her friends.

“This generation, they care a lot less about privacy than we did. Everything goes online, unless it’s embarrassing or will get them into trouble.”

With the emphasis on “this generation,” the passage creates a sense of separation between the mindsets of older and younger Irish people. French’s novels are habitually rooted in contemporary Irish culture and feature settings and storylines that draw upon Irish society and history. Thus, although the plot of the novel is heavily tech dependent, French also illustrates the ways in which technology has altered society—both for adults and for teenagers.

“People want to belong, nothing strange there.”

The detectives devote a considerable amount of time to speaking with the eight girls in an attempt to understand their personalities and motivations. In Joanne’s group, the girls are driven by the desire to fit in with their peers and exhibit the same likes, styles, and trends as everyone else. Holly’s group, on the other hand, is more comfortable with embracing individual tastes and fashions. However, by expressing people’s need for belonging as a universal truth, French also suggests that even Holly’s group of nonconformists paradoxically exhibits the need to conform when they bond over their shared disdain for conformity.

“Conway said: ‘And I’m still not going to get all buddy-buddy with the squad. I don’t want to belong, I want to do my fucking job.’”

Antoinette is a strong-willed, assertive character who succeeds in a male-dominated world in part because of her competence and skill as a detective and in part because of her attitude. She puts work before emotions and throws all her energy into her cases. She does not want to make friends and is not offended when her mostly male colleagues exclude her from the force’s social world.

“Joanne could taste one drop of power in an ocean.”

With this vivid metaphor, the novel casts Joanne as one of the novel’s antagonists, highlighting her cruelty by implicitly comparing her to a shark scenting blood. Because she is cruel and selfish, she seeks to control and manipulate the people around her, and her predatory skill at reading people allows her to tell when she has gained the upper hand.

“Chris wouldn’t be the boyfriend I’d choose for my best mate.”

Chris’s characterization helps the author to explore The Tension Between Secrecy and Transparency. Although he is a popular student, the flashback chapters make it clear that Chris is not as kind as he appears. He routinely dates more than one girl in secret, treats them poorly, and abruptly stops communication when he tires of them. Habitually using girls without regard for their feelings, he keeps his real nature a secret and lies constantly in order to get what he wants.

“She keeps reading. Chris is excellent. Julia is almost impressed. He had Selena sussed dead on, right from the start.”

Because of Chris’s reputation, none of Selena’s friends believes that his feelings for her are genuine. The girls are fiercely protective of one another and will go to extreme lengths in order to keep one another safe. Here, Julia reads through Chris and Selena’s correspondence history and decides to prevent the two from pairing up again. However, although she has her friend’s best interests at heart, her decision is manipulative and fails to take Selena’s feelings into account.

“‘I knew girls could be bitches, but this is, like, something special,’ Chris says. ‘You have no idea,’ Julia says.”

Truth and lies are slippery and complex in this novel, as are morals. Here, Chris marvels at his perception of girls’ cattiness because he thinks that Julia is a “bitch” for betraying Selena. However, although Julia’s response ostensibly confirms Chris’s assertion, it is actually an oblique acknowledgement of her own behavior toward Chris; at this very moment, Julia is manipulating Chris, not Selena. Her comment therefore takes on an air of dramatic irony, and out of all the girls, she is willing to go to the greatest lengths to protect her friend.

“Conway had trusted me. Not just enough to see through all of Mackey’s doom-pedelling, but trusted me to know she would.”

Although this issue is secondary to the novel’s central mystery, Stephen and Antoinette’s relationship becomes a subtle yet important aspect of the narrative. Because they are both outsiders on the force, they gradually build trust and rapport as they work together to solve Chris’s murder. Even when Frank tries to drive a wedge between them, they remain close, and their mutual distrust of Frank demonstrates their ability to accurately assess a person’s character and intentions.

“The whole point of the vow was for none of them to have to feel like this. The point was for one place in their lives to be impregnable. For just one kind of love to be stronger than any outside thing. To be safe.”

The girls in Holly’s group keep secrets primarily because they value platonic friendship and loyalty above all else. They have sworn an oath to one another because they value one another so highly but also because they have experienced difficulties with their families, other girls, and the boys their age. They designate their friendship a safe space and will do anything in their power to protect it.

“Becca is not stupid and no matter what people think, she’s not twelve. A place like this is riddled with secrets, and their shells are thin.”

Becca is a complex character who proves capable of both good and bad decisions. Although she is a fiercely loyal friend and a dedicated individualist, her choice to murder Chris reveals her troubled mind, and the detectives are sure that she needs serious psychiatric help. Still, her crime also reveals the high importance that she places on friendship. Although her reasoning is deeply flawed, she only decides to kill Chris because she feels that his presence in Selena’s life has irrevocably altered the nature of their group.

“Trust your instincts, dad always says. If something feels dodgy to you, go with dodgy.”

Holly’s insider knowledge of police work and her understanding of instincts become key facets of her characterization. She is a keen judge of character in part because her father has taught her to listen to her initial impressions rather than coming up with reasons to ignore her intuition. She is more observant than girls her age and is largely able to keep herself and her friends safe from harm—at least until she must face the consequences of her actions at the very end of the novel.

“Keeping your mouth shut around adults is a reflex.”

Like many of French’s novels, The Secret Place provides an in-depth exploration of the hidden struggles of adolescence. The girls and boys in this novel all understand that adults automatically wield more power than they do. Yet the girls find myriad ways to use what little power they have, and secrecy becomes one of their most important weapons in this shadow-war of impressions and implications. They therefore keep secrets from their parents, their teachers, and even the investigators in order to maintain control of various social situations.