The Keeper of Happy Endings

The novel opens with 23-year-old Rory Grant waking up on a Sunday morning and preparing to meet her mother. She is prepping herself for being grilled with questions about her hobbies, education, and plans for the future. She stayed up late reading a romance novel and neglected her mail and messy home for another night, content to be lost in “other people’s happy endings” (5). As she hurries to get ready, she can’t help but open her dresser drawer and take out letters written by her fiancé, Matthew Huxley, known as Hux. Hux is a physician with Doctors Without Borders who was abducted during an armed raid in South Sudan and has been missing for five months. Rory has 43 letters that he sent during his time away, and now that he is missing, the letters are her only connection to him. Rory reflects on Hux’s life and the tragedies and experiences that shaped him, as well as the start of their relationship and his time working with children in Africa. She has not received any word from the State Department about Hux’s whereabouts. She wants to cancel on brunch with her mother but forges ahead, determined to “put on a brave face and say the right things, because that’s what’s expected of her” (6). The chapter concludes with Rory leaving her home, feeling that her appearance is below standard and will not meet her mother’s expectations.

Rory arrives at her mother’s house for weekly brunch. Her mother, Camilla Lowell Grant, is perfectly put together and runs an immaculate household. Her father, Geoffrey Grant, was an unfaithful husband and absent father before his death. Rory’s family is one of the most prominent and philanthropic families in Boston, and her mother expects that Rory, whom she calls by her given name, Aurora, will return to Tufts to complete her master's degree and move forward with her life despite the fact that Hux is still missing. Rory reacts strongly, accusing Camilla of never liking Hux and his humble North Carolina upbringing, arguing that her mother would only be pleased with someone “with the right last name and a Mayflower sticker on their steamer trunk” (16). Rory questions her mother’s qualification to discuss marriage when her own was so unsuccessful and immediately feels sorry for the hurtful comment. Still, Rory believes that her mother has no idea how difficult her life is and how hard she must work each day to carry on without Hux. She feels empty, numb, and apathetic about her unknown future. When Rory accuses her mother of never having lost someone she loved, Camilla responds cryptically and tells Rory that she has no idea how much she’s lost. Rory’s internal dialogue states, “[t]here is so much about her mother’s life she didn’t know. So much she’d sealed off or refused to talk about” (17). Before departing her mother’s home, Rory expresses concern that Hux may not be found alive, which Camilla doesn’t want to hear and instead repeats familiar advice for Rory to “keep [her] chin up and be brave” (19).

On her way home, Rory contemplates her mother’s veiled responses to her questions while walking back to her car. At a stoplight, she notices what appears to be an abandoned row house on nearby Newberry Street and feels a strange sensation that someone is watching her from an upstairs window. She feels drawn to the mysterious house but keeps walking. At home, her mother’s words echo in her mind and she reflects on her upbringing and the strong desire she always felt to forge her own path in life separate from her family; she longed to escape “her mother’s gravitational pull to chart her own course” (23), which she was on the verge of doing with Hux. Rory thinks back to Hux’s belief in her ability as a textile artist, and she once dreamed of opening a gallery for aspiring artists and naming it “Unheard Of.” Hux was enthusiastic about her dreams and encouraged her to pursue them, but those dreams are on hold now: “Hux had rekindled her creative flame with talk of a gallery. But when he disappeared, the flame had gone out” (28). At home, she has a closed-off guest room that contains unfinished works of art that she hasn’t touched since his disappearance. As she looks over the pieces, the row house comes to her mind and she begins to imagine it as the perfect spot for her gallery. Before the impulse passes, she connects with her real estate agent about touring the home. It is revealed that the house belongs to the novel’s other main character, Soline Roussel, who operated a bridal shop out of the house until a fire destroyed it. It has been abandoned ever since, and Rory has a gut feeling that this particular building is the right one for her.

Soline is presented with the real estate offer by her attorney, Daniel. Like Camilla with Rory, Daniel too encourages Soline to let go of the past and move on, referencing what Soline has endured, but the extent of those circumstances is unclear at this point in the novel. Soline reflects back on her family history in Paris and the Roussel family of dressmakers who are called many names: les tisseuses de sort, or Spell Weavers, and Dress Witches. They have the ability to infuse their bridal gowns with la magie, magic charms that guarantee the bride a happy ending. For 70 years, Soline’s family kept the tradition of crafting bridal gowns infused with magic for clients vetted through an intense set of tests. When Soline was 12, her mother, or Maman, began training her in la magie. Though she was “taught from a tender age that happy endings are for other people” (35), Soline was a daydreamer who longed for a life in which she could create stunning clothing of her own design, and she began sketching out her dreams in secret. The Roussel family is afflicted by a maléfice, a curse passed down through generations that results in tragic love lives for the dressmakers. Plagued by bad luck, the family endeavored to stay strictly focused on their work, and so Maman discouraged Soline’s dreams, calling her “selfish and ungrateful, a wilding who would come to harm one day if [she] didn’t stop her silly dreaming and bend [herself] to [her] calling” (37). However, Soline is thankful that she never fully abandoned her dream as she was eventually able to continue the Roussel legacy in the Boston row house shop, hopeful that she made her Maman proud.

Soline agrees to allow Daniel to set up a meeting with Rory’s real estate agent about leasing the row house. Daniel shares how Rory “said it was as if the building had been waiting for her” (44), which deeply resonates with Soline. Daniel suggests that perhaps Soline and Rory are kindred spirits, as they are both artsy types. Soline’s challenging but so far mysterious past is referenced again when she muses, “I can be rather childlike at times. Sullen and immovable. And yes, difficult. I suppose that comes from a life that’s denied you everything you ever wanted” (45). The chapter concludes as she remembers her 16th birthday as the day her life first began to change.

Soline and her mother are alone in the shop and Maman begins telling her about dark times ahead while she fingers the gold crucifix that she wears daily now. Straddling “the line between saints and spirits” (47), the dressmakers have blended la magie and the Catholic faith as a means of protection against evil. Maman begins to warn Soline about the danger ahead: “The female sex has always been troublesome for those in power, because we see things, we know things” (47). Maman tells her about the impending German invasion of France and that she has been filling the shop with stores of food, clothing, and shoes in preparation. Maman implores Soline to be brave and careful in the face of war. She expresses fear for Soline’s future and safety, and it is in that moment when Soline realizes that Maman is sick and will not be alive much longer.

War is looming in Paris, and Soline hears of new horrors each day on the radio as they await the arrival of German troops: “Raids and roundups. Trains crisscrossing Europe, loaded with prisoners bound for camps. Communists. Jews. Roma” (50). Terrified for her daughter’s safety once the Nazis take Paris, Maman pleads with Soline to join her aunt Lilou in London so that she can escape France while there is still time. Maman is rapidly declining, and Soline refuses to leave her while she is dying.

Rory makes plans for the row house renovation and sets her sights on an autumn opening date for the gallery. As she is inspecting the house, she feels strange sensations running through her as if she’s been shocked. She breaks the news to Camilla that she won’t be returning to her master of fine arts (MFA) program in the fall and is instead pursuing her dream of opening the gallery. Aware that her mother will be resistant to the idea, Rory expresses both her fear of failure and desire to take this leap, telling her mother: “[Y]es, it’s a huge risk, but it’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning. And getting out of bed was starting to feel much harder than it should” (62). After months of feeling directionless following Hux’s disappearance, Rory now has a purpose. Camilla reveals that she is familiar with Soline Roussel’s name and fills in some missing details for Rory: how the fire left her with significant burns and how the gowns were known for their signature Roussel Bow and were coveted by Boston’s brides.

In a dark crawlspace beneath the stairs, Rory uncovers the dress box, letters, and shaving kit that Soline examined in the Prologue. There are 18 letters in French and English, and the ones that Rory can read tell the stories of happy brides on their one-year anniversaries, writing to thank Soline for her help in the form of the magical gowns she made them. Rory starts to wonder if it could be true: “Enchanted gowns. Guaranteed happy endings. Was such a thing actually possible?” (69). She takes the box and letters home.

When Rory sends word to Soline that she found the box, Soline agrees to meet at a nearby patisserie to retrieve it. Soline is conversationally direct, impeccably dressed, and younger than Rory imagined, with dark hair and scars not visible on her gloved hands. Believing that the box had been lost in the fire, Soline is touched and grateful for Rory’s assistance and is happy to answer any questions that Rory has about the box’s contents. Soline reveals that the dress was hers, never worn, and the shaving kit belonged to Anson, an ambulance driver killed in the war. The letters in French were written by women in Paris after her mother’s death, and they help her remember happier times. She does not reveal the truth behind the magic charms in the dresses when Rory tells her what she’s heard and read about Soline’s abilities; Soline instead asserts that “people have ways of clinging to ideas that make the world seem nicer than it is […] when life is hard, it helps to cling to illusion” (77). While the box’s contents are precious to her, she felt that she must “let go of those broken pieces of [her] life” (77), but rather than part with them for good, she kept them out of sight where they couldn’t remind her of the past each day. When Soline calls the items painful reminders of “the life I thought I thought I would have” (78), Rory feels as if the words could have come out of her own mouth. Rory offers to drive Soline back to her townhouse and they leave together.

Soline invites Rory into her Beacon Hill home and tells her about L’Aiguille Enchantée through pictures, sketches, and newspaper clippings. However, Soline advises against believing in fairy tales and happy endings, warning that “it’s easy to forget they’re not real. And then, before we know it, we’re lost in them. Which is why we must learn to let go of what’s gone and live with what is” (85). While Soline has spent years hardening herself in the aftermath of loss, Rory is just beginning to understand the depth of her own grief. She is sorrowful when discussing Anson with Soline, drawing parallels to her own experience of missing Hux and the ache she feels each day. Recognizing the similarities in their lives, Rory wonders if some “invisible hand nudged her into the path of this tragic woman” or if Soline serves as a cautionary tale of how life turns out when one hopes for a happy ending (86). Overcome with emotion, she leaves Soline’s home without explanation.

Once alone, Soline reflects on the day and is shaken by the afternoon’s events. She feels a commonality with Rory, “something familiar about her, a connection I sensed the instant our eyes met” (89). She sees the similarities they share, noting that Rory is “[l]ost. Grieving. Desperate for a glint of light at the end of a very dark tunnel” (89). Although she is unaware of the full extent of Rory’s story, Soline knows that Rory is trying to hide her sadness, and Soline hopes that the gallery will be a lifeline, just as the bridal shop was for her. Soline reflects on grief and the ways in which her life has been marked by “before” and “after.” She goes to bed and thinks of Rory.