The Lying Game

Controlled, calm Kate Atagon is Ambrose’s daughter. Since his death, Kate has lived alone in the Tide Mill, with only her white German Shepherd, Shadow, as company. The Mill is largely unchanged from when Kate was a child. Still ramshackle and filled with Ambrose’s artwork, the Mill is a “memorial to her father” (26). Kate has brown hair, “nutmeg freckles” (10), and slate blue eyes.

Kate has been self-sufficient since the age of 16 but has led a solitary and difficult life. She lives with the guilt of not only concealing Ambrose’s body, but of knowing that her lover/“stepbrother” Luc was the murderer, and that he committed the crime to be with her. She also deals with guilt of the punitive decision she made to return Luc to France where she knew abusers awaited Luc. Love and guilt tie Kate to the Tide Mill: She tells her three friends that she will not and cannot leave.

Kate has few friends in Salten. Mary Wren comments that unlike Ambrose, Kate has “a foot in both worlds, as you might say” (105). Unlike her father, whom the villagers widely accepted, Kate, thanks largely to the Lying Game, remains ostracized by most of the townspeople. Kate is additionally isolated by the unsavory rumors that her father abused her. Kate also copes with the strain of being a blackmail victim. Kate is perhaps the most skilled liar in the game, coolly breaking Rule Four of their game: “Never Lie to Each Other” (219). Kate lies to honor her father’s last wishes, to protect her friends from implication in Ambrose’s death, and to exact her own form of revenge on Luc.

With her “long, slightly haughty face like a Modigliani painting” (10), long legs and black hair, Isa finds 15-year-old Thea beautiful. Thea comes from a wealthy family, but Isa knows there is “something very wrong” (98) in the family background. Even as a 15-year-old, Thea is anorexic, drinks heavily, and cuts herself. Previous schools expelled her, and Thea never went home to visit her family, seemingly fearing her father. She is grateful for Isa and Fatima when they lie to protect her after Miss Weatherby smells cigarette smoke on her, saying that if another school kicks her out, “Dad might get me locked up” (54). Unlike Isa, who seeks to bury her guilt in the security and safety of a normal life, Thea bounces from place to place, running from her guilt.

Thea has the toughest exterior of the three friends, and like them, is a good liar. Thea initially introduces Kate to the Lying Game, which other girls played on her at her previous schools. Thea does not like bullying and changes the rules to target popular girls and teachers who think they’re “above it all” (55).

Thea admits that her drinking and other self-destructive behaviors, which follow her into adulthood, are coping mechanisms for her guilt. Thea drinks more heavily as the threats against them grow. Thea’s physical tell for lying is biting her fingernails, and by the end of The Lying Game, her fingers are bloody. Thea’s motivation for her lies is like that of the other girls: to protect her friends, to keep their story straight, and to protect herself by keeping her job at the casino. Unfortunately, Thea loses her job, telling Isa that “her mind wasn’t on it” (328)—but the fact that she arrived at Hampton’s Lee with a can of gin and tonic suggest that her alcoholism, an unhealthy coping mechanism, may have been a factor.

Fatima is petite, dark-haired, and caring. Both of her parents are doctors and she followed in their footsteps, becoming a GP and marrying Ali, who is also a doctor. She has two children, Nadia and Samir. Salten House is Fatima’s first experience with boarding school. Fatima wished to accompany her parents on their volunteer service trip to Pakistan, but they sent her to Salten instead. As a 15-year-old, Fatima is glad to have the friendship of the other three and happily joins in their delinquent behaviors. She also participates in hiding Ambrose’s body.

Adult Fatima is the most changed, and arguably the most stable, of the four friends. Since Isa last saw Fatima six years prior, Fatima embraced the Muslim religion. She forswears drinking and wears a hijab. Fatima is devout in her beliefs. She resists Thea’s pressure to drink with them. Unlike Isa, who begins smoking when she is around Kate, Fatima does not compromise her values. As part of her way of coping with the guilt of hiding Ambrose and the lies they have told, Fatima tries to atone for her mistakes. She advises Isa that if a sinner is truly repentant, Allah will forgive them.

Fatima is the most critical of Kate’s and Thea’s destructive behaviors, but also the most expressive of her love for them all. Fatima is a unifying element of their friendship. She assures Kate that she, Thea, and Isa are there because they love her, and will never let her down (144). Fatima is interested in maintaining the group’s story to protect her beloved friends, but also to protect her family and career.

Kate’s “stepbrother” (96), Luc is Kate’s lover and Isa’s dream lover. Abused by men that Mireille, his drug-addict mother, brought home, Luc came to live with Ambrose. Luc lived briefly at Tide Mill when he and Kate were both little, then again in his early teens. Luc and Kate fall in love as teenagers. Isa remembers Luc as a boy. He had strong hands and coppery-brown, golden eyes. Tall, dark haired, and tanned, with his “expressive mouth” and French accent (47), Luc was irresistible to Kate—and Isa. For Isa, staying in Luc’s bedroom brings back tantalizing memories of Luc. Like the girls, Luc also does not belong to either “town or gown” (107).

Because of his abusive background, Luc has trust issues. Conscious of the damage done to his psyche, Luc never wants to have children and chance another child growing up like him, in “a world like this” (297). Luc feels gratitude for Ambrose for saving him from his horrible childhood situation, but kills Ambrose when he fears he can no longer trust him. By murdering Ambrose, Luc alienates Kate, earning her hatred and revenge. Sent back to France, Luc suffers further abuse by a man in a children’s home. Luc, legitimately, blames Kate for his exile. Their intense hatred reveals their deep love.

Adult Luc is moody and volatile. He has a long rap sheet of fights and drunken behavior. Isa, however, still sees in him the boy she desired. She is never sure whether Luc intended to kill Ambrose or just humiliate him. Luc plays his own version of the Lying Game, maintaining the lie that Ambrose’s death was a suicide to prevent murder accusations against him.

The art master at Salten House, Ambrose sacrifices a successful artistic career so that Kate can attend Salten free of charge. Ambrose has black hair, grey-blue eyes, and a “mobile” face (73). Physically, Ambrose is non-descript. He is 45, and the girls in his classes all crush on him. He smokes, and drinks rough red wine to excess. Ambrose fits in with the locals. He is close friends with Mary Wren, who calls him “one of us” (103). Ambrose is a recovering heroin addict: Kate knows he has been clean since she was a baby.

In hindsight, Fatima and Isa think that Ambrose abused his position of trust as an adult, and teacher, by drawing them naked, even though he would always ask, and the girls would consent. Ambrose offered the girls counsel and love without being judgmental (251). Knowing Luc’s past, Ambrose is especially gentle with him. Despite his relaxed parental oversight in other matters, Ambrose views Kate and Luc as true brother and sister, which makes it appalling o him that they are sleeping together. Ambrose loves his children more than anything—Mary Wren says he “would have walked through hellfire” for Kate (213)—which is why he directs Kate in his suicide note to look after Luc and herself. Love and protection of his children are Ambrose’s prime motivators.

Isa describes Mary Wren as a local powerhouse and community leader (104), who still works in the Salten post office. Mary is broad faced and strong-armed, with “stained yellow teeth” (317), and iron gray hair pulled back in a pigtail. She represents the people of Salten; the “town” (107), a lower socioeconomic group than the girls who attend Salten. Hard economic times are one motive for Mary’s blackmail scheme. Mary resents the superior attitude of Kate’s “clique” (105). Money and revenge are Mary’s motivations. Because of her friendship with Ambrose and dislike of Kate, Mary allows salacious rumors to circulate about the family. Mary willingly blackmails Kate and begins her blackmail operation on the other women; happy to humiliate them and make some money to boot.