Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting

Iona’s handbag, which Martha secretly thinks of as a Magic Handbag, Mary Poppins-style, symbolizes her vivid and eccentric character. The handbag signifies her resourcefulness and how, as a person who loves to listen to others and offer advice, she is ready for any eventuality. Iona’s handbag is generally full of things that will help her, like napkins or a teacup. The handbag also becomes a symbol of Iona’s generosity towards others, as when she produces two gin and tonics to celebrate with Piers. One the one hand, its capaciousness demonstrates the emotional baggage Iona has acquired over the years—not just the discrimination she has encountered as a lesbian, but the ageism she now confronts in her culture and in her workplace. On the other hand, the size of Iona’s handbag, and the variety to be found within it, represents her ability to rise to any occasion and find the remedy that each person needs.

As another means of connecting people, social media in the novel serves as a motif that reflects the types of connections and communication that people form and maintain. Aside from the practical applications, social media represents an alternate way of communicating or cultivating relationships, contrasted with the in-person relationships that propel most of the action.

The character named Fizz, a TikTok sensation, seems to suggest this media is too transient to have much lasting impact. The interest that followers demonstrate in the lives of influencers is in line with the novel’s deeper theme about the interest people take in the lives and problems of others, demonstrated in the popularity of advice columns and “agony aunts” and in the way travelers on the train eavesdrop on Iona’s conversations while pretending to be uninterested.

Social media’s dark side is also on display in the experiences of both Martha and Emmie. Martha is humiliated when a nude photo is used as nonconsensual pornography by Freddie, and circulated widely amongst her peer group. Emmie is harassed by mysterious messages from a “friend” who insults and demeans her (who turns out to be Toby). Social media is thus presented as something that can connect people in a variety of positive or harmful ways, becoming yet another potential means of connection in the novel.