The Soulmate: A Novel

“I’ve made seven phone calls like this since we moved to the cliff house, a year ago. Now, I merely say, ‘It’s Pippa Gerard—there’s someone on the cliff,’ and it’s sufficient. It’s hard to believe that we’d bought this house because of the cliff.”

The theme of Appearance Versus Reality is raised early in the novel with the introduction of Pippa and Gabe’s house, which is not what it initially seemed to them. This sense of disappointment sets up the book’s atmosphere of domestic dread and danger. Pippa’s words show a habitual pattern of behavior between her and Gabe, which she sees as a hero/helper dynamic. This perception is something that Pippa works to overcome over the course of the novel.

“Mei, as usual, is a particularly calming presence. There’s something about her intelligence, her slow movements, that always puts me at ease. She is an ex-colleague of Gabe’s; funnily enough, it was Gabe who introduced her to Kat. He said he just knew they would hit it off—and, as usual, Gabe was right.”

Although Mei is a supporting character in The Soulmate, she plays an important role. Mei has worked with Gabe and is more skeptical of him than anyone else. This passage is an example of how Hepworth uses Mei’s outside perspective to show that Pippa might be an (unintentionally) unreliable narrator, at least when it comes to Gabe.

“‘I’ve never seen anyone die.’ I pour milk into my tea. ‘Thank goodness. I’m not sure I could handle that sort of trauma.’ There’s a short silence. I look up and find Mum and Mei and Kat exchanging a look. ‘Actually,’ Kat says, ‘I’d say if anyone could cope with it, it’s you.’ I’m not sure what Kat’s getting at, but the three of them are all staring at me right now.”

This quote is an example of how the novels creates a gap between how Pippa sees herself and how others, specifically her family, see her. The look that the three women exchange shows how they all agree on their assessment of Pippa, which Kat voices. Her implication is that Pippa can “cope” with anything because she has held her chaotic marriage together for so long.