50 pages • 1 hour read
JP DelaneyThe Girl Before
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A 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 4-5bChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “I have no time for people who don’t strive to better themselves. Agree . . . . . Disagree”
At work, Emma struggles to be seen as competent by her colleagues in the marketing department, where she has recently transitioned as a result of her friendship with Amanda and Saul. After an uncomfortable meeting where her new boss, Brian, puts down her contributions several times, Emma returns to her desk and calls Edward Monkford. She asks, “what would happen if one of us stopped living there?” (75), and Monkford says they would be able to arrange something.
That evening, Emma cooks a romantic dinner for Simon, and he gives her a teapot for her birthday. Emma tries to initiate oral sex, and Simon pushes her away, saying, “How can you do to me what you did to that—that bastard?” (77). Emma feels “abject misery,” which is compounded as Simon tells her that on the night of the break-in, he was actually at a “lap-dancing” club with Saul (77). Emma is upset and throws up all over the floor. Then she tells Simon that he has to leave because she is breaking up with him.
Emma tells her therapist, Carol, that she was lying about not remembering the rape. To Emma’s surprise, Carol doesn’t make her focus on this, instead asking Emma to talk about Simon. Carol gives Emma advice at the end of the session that a traumatic event can often result “in a softening of your existing boundaries” (83).
After therapy, Emma meets with the lawyer who drew up the lease in order to make the new contractual arrangements so that she can live without Simon at One Folgate Street. Towards the end of their meeting, the lawyer gives her documentation showing that Edward Monkford’s wife and child are buried on the property.
Jane shares the news of her new sexual relationship with Edward Monkford with her friend Mia, who expresses reservations about his background. When Jane explains about the lilies and the girl who died in One Folgate Street, Mia pulls out her iPad and begins researching Emma Matthews. The photo Mia finds bears a strong resemblance to Jane. Jane resists the idea that there is a correlation, and says, “It could be a coincidence” (81). Mia decides to look up Edward Monkford’s deceased wife, Elizabeth. Even Jane “can tell that she bears a strong resemblance to Emma Matthews” (81) and therefore, also to Jane.
When Mia leaves, Jane tries to continue researching, but the Housekeeper function at One Folgate Street “doesn’t bring up any of the pictures [Mia] found” (85). Jane feels the house has become “more sinister.” As she looks up at the staircase, she notices a small door in the wall that she hadn’t noticed before; inside is a cleaning closet with a hatch to a crawlspace. Jane climbs inside and finds a sleeping bag, a pair of pajama bottoms, socks, and a business card with “Carol Younson, Accredited Psychotherapist” (87) on it. As Jane looks at the items in the crawlspace, Edward calls her.
Chapter 4 concludes with Emma cleaning the kitchen when Simon shows up. She is surprised because he still has the keycode, but he says he’ll delete it after he has his things. Emma stands firm that she is “not going to take [him] back” (89) and Simon continues to argue with her. As Simon’s behavior intensifies, Emma’s phone rings, and it is Edward, who asks to speak to Simon. Emma watches as Simon’s face “darken[s] as Edward speaks to him” (90). As Simon leaves, he says, “I will win you back” (90). Edward Monkford comes over to the house shortly after, with flowers and wine. When he begins to consensually unbutton Emma’s shirt, he notes that she is shaking. She explains about the rape, and he says, “this is too soon” (91). The chapter closes with Emma leaving the house with Edward.
Chapter 5a Summary: “You have a choice between saving Michelangelo’s statue of David or a starving street child. Which do you choose? —The statue / —The child”
In the opening sections of Chapter 5a, Jane and Emma experience almost parallel dates with Edward. He takes each woman to a small plain church in downtown London, where they each admire the architecture. After seeing the church, Edward and Jane go back to One Folgate Street. After having sex with Jane, Edward takes a shower at One Folgate Street and critiques the fact that Jane hasn’t been drying the shower off after each use. The next morning, when she wakes up, Jane finds that “some house facilities have been disabled” (104), until a short quiz assignment is completed in the Housekeeper app.
In contrast, Edward takes Emma out to eat at a Japanese restaurant, where he tests her boundaries of adventurousness by ordering raw sushi, a delicacy of fish sperm sacs called shirako, and a whole fish that is still alive. Emma eats everything, and towards the end of the meal, takes Edward’s hand and puts it up her skirt. She describes that Edward looks “transfixed” as she does this. Emma and Edward return to One Folgate Street and have sex; afterwards, Edward cooks dinner for her and tells her that the spices in the cabinet should be arranged alphabetically.
Chapter 5b Summary: “Now you have a choice between donating a small sum to a local museum that’s fundraising for an important artwork, or sending it to tackle hunger in Africa. Which do you choose? —The museum — Hunger”
Jane is Edward’s date to the inauguration “of a new concert hall by David Chipperfield” (109). After mingling for some time, Edward takes her to the side of the party and gives her an orgasm. Jane is “still reeling as the party starts to break up” (111) from the shock of doing something like that in public. Edward then takes her to the Japanese restaurant and tells Jane about his experience living in Japan after his wife and son died. He describes appreciating “the emphasis on self-discipline and restraint” (111) of Japanese culture. When the chef serves them a delicacy of newborn shrimp, shirouo, Jane is overcome with grief. She starts crying in the middle of the restaurant, and leaves.
Edward apologizes to Jane through a gift of a beautiful silk dress and pearl necklace. With the packages is a note asking Jane to “forgive [him] for being an insensitive fool” (117). Jane invites him over with a picture of her with the necklace on. They have sex on the stone table in the kitchen, and then he cooks her a simple but expensive meal of pasta and olive oil. Over dinner, Edward tells Jane what she could be doing better, based on the metrics collected by the house. At first, Jane feels angry, but then she realizes that this data collection is part of the agreement she signed.
Towards the end of the chapter, Jane receives the postmortem results from her stillborn daughter. Since it is full of “medical jargon” (123), she decides to bring it into her part-time job at a charity, Still Hope, that works to reduce stillbirths. Jane’s colleague, Tessa, reads through the report with her, which describes the cause of death as “placenta abruptio,” or a “ruptured placenta” (124). After asking some targeted questions about Jane’s birth process, Tessa explains that Jane might have a case of medical negligence and instructs Jane to “write back asking for a copy of all the medical records” (126).
Emma meets with Detective Inspector Clarke at the police station and drafts a Victim Personal Statement, or an impact statement, to keep Deon Nelson from being released on bail. Edward comes to pick her up and brings her to a nearby café, where he gives her a gift of a three-string pearl necklace “like a collar” (121). When she asks the occasion, he explains that he’d like her to attend an architectural awards ceremony with him, and gives her the second box, which has a dress in it.
At the ceremony that evening, Emma watches Edward give a speech about the deeper purpose of architecture. Although the rest of the room “seems quite baffled” (128), Emma herself follows along as he explains that architecture’s real role is to help in “building a different kind of society” (128). In bed later, Emma asks Edward about his wife and her burial at One Folgate Street. Edward explains the concept of hitobashira, a practice of burying dead or living people underneath a new structure to bring luck. Emma researches it further on her own and ends the night “with a smile” on her face (130).
Every few months, One Folgate Street is opened to a tour. Jane finds one person in the group, a man who looks around 30, (132) touching her clothing in the cupboard in her bedroom. The man tells her that he has applied seven times to live in One Folgate Street but was rejected each time. He expresses anger that Jane gets to live there, saying that “women are [Edward’s] weakness” (132). When Jane tells Edward about the interaction, Edward explains that the man is relatively harmless. Jane isn’t convinced. She also asks Edward if he and Emma had a relationship, and he says, “she’s in the past now. What’s happening right now […] this is perfect” (134). The chapter closes on Jane calling Carol Younson, the psychotherapist whose card she found, which was left there when Emma was the tenant of One Folgate Street.
Chapters 4-5b Analysis
The parallel structure of the novel is significantly altered in these chapters. Jane’s interactions with Edward happen faster than Emma’s, so that it feels like what happened in the past is put on pause by Emma’s rape case. Despite the disjointed structure of the two stories, both women still experience highly-similar behavior in their relationships with Edward. The more time each woman spends with Edward, the more captivated they are by his desire for order and control. This is highlighted by interactions where Edward criticizes each woman for her messy behaviors. Edward’s gift of a collar-like pearl necklace is also reminiscent of relationships that hinge on one partner being in the dominant, powerful position, and one person being in the submissive, powerless position.
Edward’s obsessive, meticulous behaviors are developed further in this section of the novel. In particular, this is shown through the several meals that Edward shares with both female protagonists. Edward seems to make his choices about food just as carefully as the rest of his life. It is precisely this level of control that Emma and Jane each are drawn to. His interactions with both Emma and Jane at the Japanese restaurant reveal the differences between them. Emma is adventurous and daring, while Jane is cautious and emotional. Both women also watch him cook for them, with Emma observing his “fire and energy” (105) and Jane describing his “thoughtful” demeanor (118). Edward’s control over what they eat also places both Emma and Jane in the passive, submissive role, heightening this dynamic in each romantic relationship.
The trauma that both Emma and Jane have experienced continues to impact their lives as the novel progresses. As Emma writes her personal statement at the police station, she experiences a rush of emotions looking at the words she’s written: “Disgusted. Terrified. Ashamed. Dirty”; she “never imagined it would come to this,” and calls Edward immediately (120). When he says he is coming to get her, Emma expresses relief that “someone strong and decisive […] like Edward” will “come and pick up [her] life and rearrange all the pieces for [her]” (120-21). Emma’s reaction to her trauma is to seek out someone who can control her life for her, so that she can be free of this perceived burden. In strong contrast to Emma is Jane, who responds to her traumatic experiences by seeking out new information and trying to control the circumstances herself. When Edward triggers her emotional response at the Japanese restaurant, she leaves, rather than relying on him to control the situation for her. Jane’s independence and strength are further developed when she decides to continue investigating what happened to Emma at the end of Chapter 5b.
