The Secret Place

Antoinette is a detective on Dublin’s murder squad. As a woman in a male-dominated field, she has had her share of interpersonal difficulties, and her presence in the novel reveals French’s broader engagement with the politics of gender in contemporary Ireland. Antoinette’s mindset and actions demonstrate how difficult it is for women to succeed professionally in a deeply patriarchal society. Antoinette’s response to this discrimination gives rise to additional struggles, as she openly confronts instances of sexual harassment rather than overlooking it in the name of preserving the peace. Because she does not allow herself to be bullied, she receives pushback from male officers who would rather work with subservient women. Quick to anger, she has a temper and responds swiftly and bitterly to even small microaggressions. However, Stephen understands that her prickly demeanor has arisen as a form of armor against years of workplace misogyny. Although Antoinette does not have Stephen’s people skills, she is still a keen judge of character. She lets him take the lead in most of the interviews, but her astute observations of the girls’ stories, behaviors, and interactions help to crack the case. Although much of her characterization focuses on her assertiveness, Antoinette shows flashes of humor and develops a solid rapport with Stephen, favoring him with a wry sarcasm that flavors conversations and adds depth and nuance to their working relationship.

Holly is a student at St. Kilda’s and is one of the novel’s primary characters. Her father, Frank, is a detective and a colleague of Antoinette and Stephen. Holly has inherited Frank’s eye for observation, and she has also picked up a wealth of information about law enforcement over the years, thereby gaining an advantage when it comes to predicting the pattern of the investigation into Chris’s death. Although adults typically have more power than adolescents, many of the teenage characters in the novel are adept at manipulating situations to gain the upper hand, and Holly wields her knowledge of the law in multiple situations. Stephen observes that Holly is “sharp [and] stubborn” and has “plenty going on” (143); in addition to her academic abilities, she demonstrates a keen understanding of people and uses this to her advantage. Although she presents herself as honest and trustworthy, Holly is actually a very skilled liar, and her friends recognize that she is the best in their group at crafting falsehoods. Assertive and witty, Holly demonstrates her sarcasm and sass in her own social world and in her interviews with Stephen and Antoinette, and she proves to be largely immune to manipulation and social pressure. Like her friends, she scorns conformity and values genuine self-expression. Her fierce loyalty to her friends motivates her to lie, manipulate, and obstruct the investigation in order to keep them safe.

Selena is one of Holly’s friends, and she is Chris’s secret girlfriend in the novel’s flashback chapters. Initially, she is presented through the lens of social class. Unlike many of the other girls at her school, Selena’s background is middle-class. Her father lives “on some commune” and has taught Selena a different set of values (22). The school’s elitism troubles Selena, and she rejects the association between wealth and happiness that girls like Joanne automatically make. She does not see her time in school as a way to network for a future career, but rather as an opportunity to forge close female friendships. Selena adores Holly, Becca, and Julia and prioritizes the group’s relationship over romance—at least until she meets Chris. 

Dreamy and spiritual, Selena rejects the idea of a traditional higher power but does acknowledge that there are larger forces at work than humans. She is drawn to Chris because although he manipulates the girls he becomes involved with, he does have a compassionate streak. She is moved by the kindness he shows to his sister and to Becca, and she therefore overlooks the worse aspects of his nature. However, when these flaws become too glaring, she wisely ends the relationship with Chris, recognizing that he has never committed to any girl for very long. However, she still values him as an individual and is saddened when he does not share her desire to remain friends. She is devastated by his murder, and it is clear that her feelings for him have lingered, even though she was the one to end their romance.

Julia is one of Holly’s friends. Assertive and confident, she is the most willing to stand up to Joanne, and she typically remains calm during her interviews with the detectives, even when she is inwardly nervous. She has more self-mastery than any of her peers, with the exception of Holly, and she uses cunning strategies to conceive and execute various plots to direct the investigation away from her friends. Like all the girls, she is willing to manipulate others in order to achieve her goals. 

On a broader level, Julia is a critical thinker, and unlike her girlfriends, she argues that “there’s nothing wrong with elitism” (22). Instead, she takes issue with the fact that people often pretend not to care about class and status. She finds this form of hypocrisy more troubling than snobbery and has clearly analyzed the issue in detail. Julia is also one of the novel’s key points of engagement with the politics of gender. After experiencing a sexual assault, she swears off any romantic entanglements with boys. Having been the target of cruel rumors and abuse, she has learned the hard way that girls who do not have boyfriends are ridiculed for being undesirable, while those who do have boyfriends and push the bounds of traditional propriety are shamed for their activities. Julia is one of the novel’s most loyal characters. In order to protect Selena from heartbreak, she has sex with Chris even though she does not want to, diverting his attention away from her friend so that he cannot manipulate and ghost her.

Becca is one of Holly’s friends and is ultimately revealed to be Chris’s murderer. Her affluent family is more focused on their finances than on proper parenting. On the first day of school, Holly notes that Becca’s parents “live in Dubai” and that “the housekeeper brought her” to school (23). Although Becca is as wealthy as Joanne, she eschews ostentation and refuses to follow any established social trends. Of her group, she is the least interested in other people’s opinions, and for this reason, she is often the target of bullying. However, she demonstrates her individuality and strength of character during moments like the school dance, when she remains largely immune to Joanne’s jeers over her choice to wear jeans. 

Becca strikes most people as aloof and unaware, and she is often overlooked and underestimated. This is because Becca is introspective and thoughtful and is more interested in abstract analysis than in interacting with her peers. She thinks deeply about the nature of friendship and has an almost mystical conception of what it means for young women to pledge loyalty to one another. Because of her deep commitment to friendship and what Stephen characterizes as a possible “break” with reality, Becca chooses to murder Chris in order to shield Selena from harm and to protect the integrity of her clique. In her mind, Chris becomes a “sacrifice” to the greater ideal of keeping her group whole and bonded.

Chris is the novel’s murder victim. Although the present-day timeline involves the investigation of his death, Chris still plays an important role in the narrative and is one of the flashback chapters’ key figures. In this earlier timeline, Chris is depicted an affluent student who is “popular at school” (26). The detectives initially characterize him as a typical teenage boy; Chris is semi-committed to his schoolwork, has a large circle of friends, and drinks and smokes only at parties. 

However, Chris is ultimately revealed to be much more complex. He is one of the most affluent students in either school, and he uses his considerable funds to facilitate his clandestine relationships with girls, providing each of his many partners with a flip phone so that they can communicate secretly. He keeps these relationships hidden because he is often dating more than one girl at a time, and he wants his cheating to remain undetected. Chris is a dishonest person who manipulates the girls he seduces. Yet despite these prominent flaws, he is capable of sporadic acts of kindness. Because his sister struggles socially, he worries about her. He knows how vicious girls can be and does his best to help guide her. He also has a soft spot for other girls like her, and he is kind to Becca because she reminds him of his sister. The novel is ambiguous about Chris’ intentions toward Selena, but their text history suggests that the two had a genuine connection. Even so, he is willing to cut ties with Selena when Julia offers him sex, and it is clear that lust is a stronger motivating force for him than love.

Joanne is the unofficial but obvious leader of the “cool crowd” at St. Kilda’s, and she serves as a largely antagonistic figure exuding confidence tinged with cruelty. She is just as vicious to her own friends as she is to the girls in Holly’s group. Calculating and manipulative, she wields power within her own clique by doling out or withholding kindness and approval. She controls and manipulates Orla and Alison with ease, although she is less heavy handed with the naturally assertive Gemma. 

Like all the girls in her group, Joanne is committed to social conformity. Not only does she follow the day’s styles and trends, but she also maliciously criticizes girls who do not. Yet although Joanne is cruel and manipulative, she is also vulnerable to manipulation herself. Because she has an inflated sense of self-importance, she cannot believe that Chris would ever seek to manipulate her. She is aware that he has behaved badly with other girls, but she views herself as too high-status to be similarly toyed with, and she is crushed when he follows his usual pattern and ghosts her. However, her display of vulnerability at this point is temporary and is soon replaced with an obsession with revenge. She does her best to break the bond between Chris and Selena because she cannot stand to think that Chris has replaced her with someone whom she views as occupying a lower place in the school’s social hierarchy.

Gemma is one of Joanne’s friends. Unlike Orla and Alison, Gemma is confident and assertive. Although second to Joanne in the group’s internal hierarchy, Holly observes that Gemma is often just as cruel as Joanne. Gemma also displays considerable autonomy within her clique, as she is willing to speak her mind without consulting Joanne and even approaches Holly to strike a deal that will keep Selena and Chris apart. She does not display any of Orla or Alison’s fear or anxiety and also holds her own with the Colm’s boys. However, like the rest of the girls in Joanne’s group, Gemma is hyperaware of her image and does her best to conform to the trends and fashions of the day. For example, she adopts the same style of clothing, hairstyles, and makeup as her friends do, and she ruthlessly polices girls who defy the status quo. Unlike Selena and Holly, who come from working- and middle-class backgrounds, Gemma leans on her affluence and understands that her privilege is a source of power. Her father is a solicitor, and she knows that a well-timed call to him could easily impact the investigation, as he would intervene on behalf of his daughter if she should ever feel threatened by the police.

Orla is one of Joanne’s friends at St. Kilda’s. Holly’s group labels Orla as one of Joanne’s little “poodles.” Orla craves approval and happily does anything that Joanne asks of her, and her insecurities fuel her ongoing  willingness to let Joanne control her. Orla bases her sense of self-worth on Joanne’s approval. Because of Orla’s looks, she is often the butt of the Colm’s boys’ jokes, as they mock girls whom they deem attractive and unattractive with equal cruelty. The “pretty” girls are judged for engaging in sexual activity or else mocked for their “frigidity.” Girls like Orla, however, are subjected to ruthless criticism of their looks. 

Because Orla is insecure and craves approval, she is also an easy target for the detectives’ manipulation. Because they understand that Orla is at the bottom of Joanne’s arbitrary hierarchy, they often call her in first for their interviews, putting her on edge and increasing the likelihood that she will reveal pertinent information.