1/25/2019 5 Comments Lisa JewellLisa Jewell July 19, 1968 London, UK
Major Works:
Jewell has a few major themes which can be seen throughout her books:
Novel Choice Plot Summary: Analysis of Main Characters: Laurel Mack- Laurel Mack is the main character of this story. She is the mother of Ellie Mack, who disappeared 10 years ago from when the story takes place. Laurel is a strong, intelligent, and determined woman who loves her daughter more than anything in the world. She would do anything for her family as long as they are happy, something any good mother would do. Laurel often puts her needs on hold if that means her children, ex husband, boyfriend, or granddaughter is happy. Although many people think Laurel is crazy for holding onto the true reason behind Ellie’s disappearance, she keeps hope that she knew her daughter as much as she thought she did, knowing Ellie did not just run away. Laurel’s determination is what drives this story as she investigates on her own about Ellie’s disappearance, even after the police stop searching. One flaw she does have is not letting herself move on past Ellie. Laurel feels the need to not feel happiness and grieve over her death forever, which is not healthy. Once she meets Floyd, who later turns out to be Noelle’s ex lover and Poppy’s “father,” Laurel realizes that’s it okay to feel happiness again, though still missing her daughter, and not feel guilty about it. Laurel’s character seems to reflect who Lisa Jewell is as a person, from the information about the author available online. In the end, Laurel turns from a distant, somber woman to a bright, jubilant mother who is happy to raise her granddaughter Poppy, while keeping Ellie in mind, remembering that her happiness is all Ellie could want for her. Floyd- Floyd is a middle age man who endured a very challenging life as a kid. After being left at the steps of a hospital when he was born and moving from country to country during his school years, Floyd is a reserved, yet charming man. When he meets Laurel in a coffee shop one morning, he has no intention to fall in love with the grandmother of his “child.” Floyd always tried to be a good man - he raised a girl he knew should not exist and treated her like she was his own, showed kindness and love towards Laurel and her family, and always tried to do the right thing even when it was the hardest decision to make. When Floyd invited Noelle into his home one evening, we never expected to form a relationship with her, let alone make her insane enough to kidnap Ellie so that she would have a baby Noelle would claim as “theirs.” Floyd was only trying to be a good man by making Noelle happy for one night. Floyd’s kindness is a blessing and a curse as he tries to make everyone happy, sometimes forgetting about his own happiness. After raising Poppy for 9 years, as he was too scared to go to the police to return her to the Mack family, he finally realizes Ellie is her mother and that Poppy belongs to Laurel. It kills Floyd to give her up, and yes, it literally does kill him, though he wants Laurel and Poppy to be as happy as they possibly could be, even if it means giving up the girl he raised. Theme: Although there are many themes in the novel, I think the most prominent theme is that it’s normal to remember the heartbreak that one has enured, but everyone has a different way of grieving, and it’s okay to move on past it afterwards. In the novel, Laurel Mack loses her daughter Ellie one day after she goes to the library to study for a big test, and never returns, after making a stop into her old tutor, Noelle Donnelly’s home. Laurel spends the next 10 years of her life grieving over her loss, while her family and friends have all moved on with their lives, including her husband, who is in a serious relationship with a new girl. She believes they have been too hasty with their decision to move on and thinks that they do not love and care about Ellie as much as she does. Though, Laurel meets a man named Floyd, and daughter Poppy, who brings back all the love into her life, which also uncovers many secrets about Ellie and her tutor Noelle. Being with Floyd and Poppy helps her realize that it’s alright to move on past a heartbreak and not feel guilty for it anymore, though a part of Laurel will always be a little bit broken, and that’s okay. In the end of novel when Floyd takes his own life, leaving Poppy with her, Laurel has finally moved on and is content with her life once more as she’s realized that everyone has their own coping method to grief and it is possible to stop feeling the heartbreak if you have the right motivations to do so. Poppy is Laurel’s motivation to become happy again and move on past her daughter’s death once and for all. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Lisa Jewell is a middle-aged women who is one of London’s best selling authors. She has been writing books ever since she won a bet against her friends, after being made redundant from her job as a receptionist. Jewell is a very creative writer who loves to get her audanicane thinking about unfortunate things that could happen to the everyday person, regardless of how good they might be to others. For example, Jewell often has her main characters made redundant from work, even if they are hardworking individuals, just like she was. Although she incorporates small facts about herself into her writing, she tends to intertwine more complicated lessons that she has learned throughout her life into her novels. When Jewell was 23, she got married to the boy she thought she loved. After their marriage day, things turned south between the two as he criticized everything that she did, and made her feel like she was never good enough. In Then She Was Gone, Ellie Mack falls in love with a boy named Theo who later marries her sister after she has died. Theo was the smartest boy in school, and Ellie felt like she needed a tutor to keep up with him, even though she was already very intelligent. With this, she hired a crazy women who ended up kidnapping Ellie so that way she could have a baby for her. Although the chances of this happening to you if you fall in love at a young age are extremely slim, Jewell does have her readers questioning what may happen if your first love doesn't work out. Chances are they’ll turn into a person you never knew could exist, like I have personally experienced, and not persuade you to get a tutor who has a desire for kidnapping. Finally, Jewell tends to incorporate her personality and morals into her main characters. She loves her family more than anything and is always willing to put their needs first. After reading how Laurel Mack developed as a character, it was clear to me that she is the fictional version of Lisa Jewell. Laurel does not stop giving up hope about Ellie’s whereabouts, because her family is what is most important to her. As a mother, Jewell knows the importance of making everyone happy, and that is exactly what Laurel does in the novel before she begins to focus on her own happiness. In an interview, Jewell states that it’s every mother’s nightmare to lose a child, and the thought is a heavy one to bare. Having Laurel, a mother like Jewell, lose her child, the story has clear signs of believable emotions and ideas if this were to ever happen to a mother. Works Cited: 2017, 2 August. “10 Things I'd Like My Readers To Know About Me By Lisa Jewell.” Female First, 2 Aug. 2017, www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/lisa-jewell-then-she-was-gone-1078825.html. “Biography: Lisa Jewell.” Lisa Jewell: Biography, Webiography, 2015, www.webbiography.com/biographies/lisa-jewell. “Lisa Jewell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jewell. “Lisa Jewell.” Simon & Schuster, Scribner, 2019, www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Lisa-Jewell/75656043. Lisa Jewell. “Missing Girls: Our Deepest Fears Drive Our Reading - 7 Modern Classics of a Timeless, Tragic Story.” CrimeReads, 17 Apr. 2018, crimereads.com/missing-girls-our-deepest-fears-drive-our-reading/. Marsh, Sarah. “Lisa Jewell: ‘Getting Married Young Was the Worst Experience of My.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 7 Feb. 2012, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/lisa-jewell-getting-married-young-was-the-worst-experience-of-my-life-6298381.html. By: Elena S.
5 Comments
jordyn ingram
1/31/2019 09:58:33 am
Do you believe that all things happen for a reason? Although Ellie's disappearance was kind of the cause of the entire plot, do you believe Laurel became a better or worse person based on the loss of her child?
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Elena Stephens
1/31/2019 10:07:54 am
Honestly, I do think all things happen for a reason. Even if it's something bad, I think in a way the "world" is testing a person to see how well they react to certain things and if they can persevere past the horrible things. I think Laurel at first became a worse person since she isolated herself, though once she met Poppy, she became a better person in the sense that she accepted what was happening to her and could realize others' feelings.
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isabella
1/31/2019 10:15:58 am
why is floyd relevant in the story?
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Elena Stephens
1/31/2019 10:18:20 am
Floyd is important because he raised Poppy into the person she is today even though he knew that wasn't his real daughter. Also, without Floyd, Laurel may never have found love and happiness again.
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Logan
2/4/2019 05:37:57 pm
How did you find out about this author and what made you choose this book? Did you like it enough to read another book by this author?
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