The Keeper of Happy Endings

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-12

Chapters 13-24

Chapters 25-34

Chapter 35-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Clothing and Dress

Throughout the novel, clothing and dress are motifs that signify the emotions and experiences of the characters. Bridal gowns represent the possibility of a happy ending for the bride, and they are also the physical representation of magic. Similarly, Soline’s wedding gown travels with her from Paris to America and serves as a touchstone for her to remember Anson by; it materially represents the hopes and dreams of the life that she had planned with Anson after the war. As such, it brings her both happy memories and immense grief and reminds her of the life that she could have had. Soline wears gloves out in public to cover her burns, but the scars underneath and the constant need to wear gloves around others are reminders of her tragic life.

Rory, Owen, and Camilla are all characterized by their clothing and style evolution throughout the novel. Rory has been content to wear shapeless clothes that do not speak to her personal style, while clothes Camilla bought her sit in her closet, unworn and with tags on. When she starts to see her gallery dream come to fruition, it brings with it an opportunity to recreate her style and choose a hairstyle and clothing that better suit her. This change represents her growing sense of self. Camilla similarly switches her neutral wardrobe for a colorful one, with Rory noting on the gallery’s opening night that there is “not a stitch of beige in sight” in Camilla’s brightly colored outfit (354). This change demonstrates how she has finally allowed more joy and youthfulness into her life. Owen’s clothes disintegrate into shabbiness as he starts to unravel during Soline’s stay; as he devolves further into cruelty and heavy drinking, he wears the same clothes repeatedly and ignores his appearance.

Rosary Beads and Shaving Kit

The rosary beads and shaving kit are symbols of the love that Soline and Anson share. Soline keeps coming back to the cologne flask within the shaving kit as a way to remember how Anson smelled; when the smell fades, she fears that she has lost her connection to him. They are both precious items given to them by their mothers, but Anson and Soline are willing to part with the beads and kit because they mean that much to each other. The items are physical representations of the pact that they make to return to one another someday, and they both hold on to the pieces until they reunite. They had hoped to be together again as soon as Anson returned from the war, so the fact that they kept the items close for four decades indicates the depth of their connection. In the end, Anson tells Soline that before his capture when he thought he was going to die, he held the rosary beads and “said [her] name over and over, out loud, like a prayer, until [he] could see [her] face” (383), because he wanted that image to be the final thing he saw in this life. As long as he had the rosary beads, he felt connected to her, and Soline feels the same way about the shaving kit.

Art

Soline and Rory connect over their shared identities as artists, and art—a motif in the novel—is a mechanism through which they express themselves and make meaning of their experiences. As a girl, Soline uses art to express her dream of designing fashion gowns. Both women have secondary rooms in their room full of art—sketches of gowns in Soline’s case and unfinished textile pieces for Rory. Though Rory hasn’t shown her art prior to the gallery, several pieces were bought by local shops, and she knew from the first piece she made that “a passion for creation had already found its way into her blood” (27). It becomes a private obsession that Camilla diminishes, calling them arts and crafts projects. When Hux disappears, she has no inspiration or desire to keep creating. When she learns of her family secret and accomplishes her dream of opening the gallery, she feels ready to make art again. Similarly, Soline reclaims some sense of her artist identity at the conclusion of the novel when she sketches and then sews the charm into her gown.