67 pages • 2 hours read
Ruth WareIn A Dark Dark Wood
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 23-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary
Nora wakes in her hospital room, realizing she has no way to get in touch with anyone since her phone is missing. Detective Lamarr comes to see her, and Nora asks about Clare. Lamarr asks if Nora remembers more about what happened after she ran from the house. Nora realizes that there is something that the detective is not telling her.
As more comes back to Nora, she recalls limping away from Clare’s car and trying to flag down a van on the road. However, she can’t place what happened between running from the house and that memory. Nora asks if something happened to Clare, and Lamarr carefully says that Clare was in the same accident as Nora. Nora asks if Clare knows about James, and Lamarr answers that she has not been well enough to receive the news. Nora asks if she can see Nina, but Lamarr says that they are still taking statements from the group, saying, “We want to get your version, not anyone else’s, and we’re worried that speaking to other people might … confuse things” (223). Nora worries that the police think she is faking her memory loss.
When Nora asks for her clothes and her phone, Lamarr says that Nora’s phone is missing and that the police would like to examine it. Nora thinks it might be in Clare’s car, but Lamarr says it isn’t there. Lamarr explains that her phone rings when called, so Nora reasons that her phone isn’t at the house, where there is no reception. Nora wonders why the police are so interested in her phone.
Although Nora feels better physically, she is still frightened. She has nothing to do in the hospital bed but wonder whether she is a suspect. She thinks that if Lamarr truly considered her a suspect, the detective would have read Nora her rights and offered a solicitor. Regardless, there is something about Lamarr’s questioning that makes Nora worry.
Chapter 24 Summary
Nina comes to visit Nora, who is thrilled to see her. Nina is her usual sarcastic self, but she is obviously glad to see Nora alive. Nora asks Nina if she knows that James is dead. Nina says that she knows and that the police came to the house early on Sunday morning to launch their investigation. Nora asks about the loaded gun. Nina answers that either Flo’s aunt had it loaded from the start or someone loaded it during the weekend.
Nina asks how Nora’s head is feeling, and Nora answers that she is having memory problems. Nora says that she is trying not to force her memory, for fear that she’ll make up something and convince herself it’s the truth. Nina reveals that she told Lamarr about Nora and James’s prior relationship. Nora responds that she told Lamarr that as well. Nina asks if Lamarr knows how Nora and James broke up, and Nora reaffirms that there was nothing more to say. Nina responds, “Breaking up, leaving school, dropping contact with half your friends, not speaking to him for ten years. Nothing to tell?” (232). Nora continues to insist there is nothing more to the story. Nina expresses her concern for Nora, as the police are looking for a motive. Nora thinks to herself that Nina does not know anything about her breakup with James, that only Clare knows part of what happened. Nina’s implication that Nora killed James, which Nina denies, angers Nora.
Nora asks if Nina has seen Clare. Nina relates that Clare sustained serious injuries in the car crash. Nina adds that James may have survived if the accident hadn’t delayed them. Nora understands now why Lamarr wants to know what happened after Nora left the house. Nora then asks about Flo, and Nina says that Flo had a breakdown. Nora asks if James’s parents are there. She remembers James introducing her as “Leo” and how kind his parents were to her.
Before Nina leaves, Nora asks if she had the chance to get clothes from the house. Nina explains that the police did not allow reentry and offers Nora her sweater. As Nina leaves, Nora sees the police are no longer outside her door.
Chapter 25 Summary
Matt Ridout, James’s best man, visits Nora. Although his arrival unnerves her, Nora wants him to stay since he is a link to James. Nora is even more shocked when Matt calls her “Leo.” Nora asks if James told Matt about her, and he replies that he’d heard that they were childhood sweethearts. Matt tells Nora that he can’t believe James is gone. He then apologizes for coming but explains that James’s mother told him Nora was with James when he died. Matt wanted Nora to know how much she meant to James. Matt tells Nora that he knew James at Cambridge and that James had been the most talented actor in their group. Matt was proud of James for continuing with acting and for not selling out.
When Matt asks why James was at the house, Nora says she does not know, explaining that they thought he was an intruder. Nora wonders if James had gone there as a prank, but Matt thinks that James would never have crashed the party uninvited. Matt comments that James and Clare were not getting along recently. This information startles Nora. Matt thinks that someone must have invited James to come. Nora tries to think of who would have done such a thing, but she rules out each person at the party. Matt gets up to leave, and Nora asks if he will come back. He relates his impending return to London but writes his number on a coffee cup. Nora feels very lonely once he’s gone.
Chapter 26 Summary
Later that evening, Nina unexpectedly shows up at the hospital. Nina hands Nora clothes and some cash. Before she leaves, Nina apologizes to Nora for unintentionally suggesting that killed James: “I never thought this had anything to do with you. But I was just worried, okay? For you. Not about you” (245). Nora gives Nina a hug and says that it is okay, that she is worried for them all as well. Nina says that the police think the live cartridge may have come from the shooting range. Nina advises Nora to tell the police about her breakup with James so that nothing suspicious comes up later. After Nina leaves, Nora reconsiders talking to the police, even though her breakup has nothing to do with the shooting.
Nora finally reveals what happened with James: “James dumped me. And yes, he dumped me by text. But what I’ve held on to all these years is the reason why. He left because I was pregnant” (248). Nora recounts how before they decided what to do about the baby, Nora ran out of his house. She spent the day with Clare, agonizing over the decision. Later that night, Nora received a text from James: “Lee. I’m sorry but this is your problem, not mine. Deal with it. And don’t call me again. J” (250).
Nora explains that Clare helped her through the abortion process. Separate from the decision to terminate, the thought that James never actually loved her haunted Nora. Nora abruptly left school to avoid the public fallout of the breakup and attended a college where no one knew her. In her mind, Nora replays how she never told Clare about James’s cruel text. Now, Nora wonders if she should have forgiven James as well as herself for loving him. Nora concludes to tell Detective Lamarr the whole story in the morning.
The next day, Lamarr, with an officer accompanying her, comes in looking much more somber. Lamarr asks Nora to identify the phone in her hand, and Nora confirms that it is hers. Lamarr switches on a tape recorder and tells Nora that she is a suspect in the case. The detective then reads Nora her rights.
Chapters 23-26 Analysis
At the hospital, Nora receives crucial information. From Nina, she finds out about Flo’s breakdown and the police’s criminal investigation. Nina tries to convince Nora to tell the police about her breakup with James so that no one can question her motives. Despite the caveat, Nora clings to her secrets: “No one knows about that part of my life—not even my mum. The only person who knows anything is Clare, and even she doesn’t know the full story” (233). With the investigation in full swing, Nora must choose between concealing and revealing her truth. Nina also imparts the tragic realization that James may have survived the gunshot if it had not been for the car accident: “It was the crash that killed him. Or else the delay caused by the crash—which comes to the same thing” (233). Just as Nora begins to let go of her anger and bitterness over the past, she must now confront the reality of James’s violent death.
Nora also learns the truth about James and Clare’s tumultuous relationship from the best man, Matt, who says, “I knew there was stuff […] things going wrong […] but this…” (239). Nora suspects that Clare concealed the truth to protect her perfect image. Matt talks about how he and James met and became friends, revealing to Nora that James had not changed as much as she feared. When Matt talks about James’s integrity and personality, Nora thinks: “Yes, that was the James I knew. […] My James. Completely unlike the unreal, materialistic person I’ve been hearing described all weekend” (241). With this information, Nora attempts to reconcile why Clare has portrayed him as someone Nora doesn’t recognize.
Nora finally reveals to the reader the secret she has been concealing throughout the book: When Nora was pregnant, James harshly rejected her and broke up with her in a text message. The breakup and subsequent realization that James never loved her devastated Nora. To avoid the reality of her heartbreak, Nora left school and broke all her social ties: “And if I went back to that school, I would have to live with that knowledge—the memory of us both together in everyone’s eyes” (251). This secrecy and severing of her old ties completely shaped Nora’s life for the next 10 years, as she kept herself closed off and unreachable. Although she is emotionally ready to tell her story, Nora hesitates to do so because she is the prime suspect in James’s murder. With the revelation of Nora’s past, Cliff colors Nora as a sympathetic character. In unburdening herself, Nora allows the reader to see her more as a victim and less as a murderer.
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By Ruth Ware
