In A Dark Dark Wood

“What has happened? What have I done?”

In the brief first chapter, the story opens with a mystery. Cliff identifies Nora as the narrator and establishes that she is in the hospital with a head injury. In having Nora ask what has happened and what she has done, Cliff sets the tone for the slow reveal of the book. The truth of what has happened, in both the long-term and recent past, comes out layer by layer and keeps the reader constantly wondering.

“Clare always did like secrets. Her favorite pastime was finding out something about you and then hinting at it. Not spreading it around—just veiled references in conversation, references that only you and she understood. References that let you know.”

Nora wonders why Clare has invited her to the hen do and why Clare wants to see her now. This passage indicates that Clare has always been a manipulator, even when the girls were children. Knowing other people’s secrets and weaknesses empowers Clare, and she embraces this positionality in her friends’ lives.

“I couldn’t tell Nina how it had made me feel, having strangers downstairs picking over my past with Clare, like someone picking at the edges of a half-healed wound.”

Nora feels tense and claustrophobic after the “how do you know Clare?” introductions have taken place among the party guests. Nora wants to keep her past buried, but having to explain how she became friends with Clare has dredged it all up again. Nora conceals her private past life as much as possible, so having it exposed feels painful.