The Heiress

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to physical abuse, domestic violence, psychological manipulation, death by suicide, alcohol use disorder, and substance misuse.

“There should be some kind of warning when your life is about to change forever. […] And you should definitely not be wearing a fucking bonnet when it happens.”

The opening lines of the novel situate the narrative at the beginning of a momentous change. In addition, because this chapter is from Jules’s first-person point of view, these sentences introduce her character as someone with a blunt, straightforward style. It also establishes the humor of Jules’s voice, which functions as a break from tension throughout the novel.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this part now. I mean, it probably doesn’t even seem all that romantic to you. Cheap college bar, my heart won forever by a free beer and a cute smile, sex on a mattress I’d gotten from Goodwill and suspected someone had died on. But it was romantic. More than that, it was real. And I guess I just want you to know that, before you hear the rest of it. I’m getting ahead of myself, though.”

Jules is explaining how she and Cam met, and in this quote, she places special emphasis on the fact that “it was real.” It is important to Jules that the reader believe in her love for Cam, as later it is revealed that their meeting was planned. Also notable in this quote is Rachel Hawkins’s use of “direct address,” a technique in which a character speaks directly to the reader, creating a connection between the character and the reader. Her need to make the reader believe in her love before “you hear the rest of it” hints that she has secrets, planting doubt about her reliability.