The Previous Girl is the first thriller British author Tony Strong has written under his pen name JP Delaney. Jane has suffered a terrible loss and hopes she can put everything back together in the home of acclaimed and eccentric architect Edward Monkford in London. Who wants to live in the minimalist house must meet certain expectations of the owner and follow a lot of rules that are linked to the house. Jane is therefore delighted when she is suitable as a candidate and not much later starts a relationship with Edward. But then she discovers the life of the previous woman who had lived in the house and doesn’t know who to trust anymore.
- data
- Summary
- Main characters
- Symbols and motifs
- Title statement and book cover
- Structure and perspective / way of telling
- Theme
- Time and place
- Evaluation
data
- Original title: The girl before
- Title: The previous girl
- Author: JP Delaney
- First print: 2017
- First edition translated into Dutch: 2017
- Translation: Caecile de Hoog
- Number of pages: 398
- ISBN: 978 90 234 6696 3
Summary
In love with a house
A modern property in Hendon designed by the owner, who is an architect, immediately catches Jane’s attention. The house is extremely energy efficient and contains all the technological gadgets that allow you to control everything with one app. But there is also a contract of two hundred points that states what is not allowed. For example, no plants, carpets, curtains and books may be placed in the house. One requirement is more bizarre than the other. And if a rule is not observed, the cleaning lady will report this to the owner.
Despite the rules, Jane wants to run in the hope that the owner finds her suitable to live in his house. But for that, she has to fill out an extensive application form. After a brief conversation with the owner, Edward Monkford, Jane is approved to live in the house.
She loves to live in the house. The only thing that starts to bother her is the weekly bouquet of lilies on her doorstep. But then she sees on a card that the flowers are not meant for her, but for Emma. A while later, Jane manages to speak to the man who is bringing the flowers. He explains to Jane that the flowers are not for her, but to remember Emma, who was murdered in the house. He doesn’t want to talk about it any further. On the internet she discovers that Emma was found at the bottom of the stairs and no suspect was arrested.
In love with the owner
Jane had to admit that she has a feeling for Edward, but she regrets that it is mutual. Although the relationship is going according to his requirements. As she lies in bed with Edward, Jane asks what he knows about Emma’s death. Edward suspects that she walked down the stairs with wet feet and fell like that. In his eyes it is an accident and not a murder.
Jane tells her best friend Mia, who immediately sets out to find out more about Emma Matthews. Mia immediately notices that Jane and Emma are very similar. So she continues to search for an image of Elizabeth Mancari, Edward’s late wife. And she also looks like the two other women.
In a closet, Jane discovers a business card of the psychotherapist Carol Yousoun. Jane suspects that Emma left this behind and makes an appointment with the psychotherapist. Carol immediately sees the resemblance to Emma and when she learns that Jane lives in the same house and is in a relationship with the same man, she fears that Jane is in danger. Edward and Emma had a destructive relationship after she broke up with Simon. Everything went well as long as she did everything Edward asked her to do. But at one point she had had enough and ended the relationship. She fell into depression and broke off contact with Carol, who is convinced that Emma eventually committed suicide.
After one of their outings, Edward attacks Jane when he reports that he is moving in with her because he loves her. Jane soon realizes that living with Edward has its consequences. Everything in the house is beautiful and perfectly chosen, and she lives by Edwards discipline, which makes it harder for her to deal with the chaos of the outside world.
Edward has to go to Cornwall for a few weeks for a project. This gives Jane time again to find out what happened to Emma. Jane gets a completely different story from Emma through retired inspector Clarke. Before moving into Edward’s house with Simon, Emma had caught two burglars in her apartment. Emma had alleged that she had been raped by one of the burglars when police found a sex video on her phone. She had also stated this in court. But afterwards it turned out that she had lied about this and then she explained that she was afraid of Simon. She had done this because she feared that Simon, who was now her ex-boyfriend, might otherwise have physically assaulted her if he found out she was cheating on him. But Clarke is convinced that this was also a lie. He doesn’t know if she killed herself, but rather looks in the direction of Deon Nelson, the perpetrator who almost put Emma behind bars for her lies. Deon has a laundry list of violent crimes to his name. So the chances that he wanted revenge are high, but no evidence has been found.
In love with your child
Completely unexpected, Jane discovers she is pregnant, but she decides not to tell Edward immediately. One day she comes home to discover that Edward is reviewing her notes on Emma. He makes it clear to Jane that he could never kill Emma because he loved her more than Jane. Surprised by what he says, Jane says she is pregnant, but also makes it clear to him that she doesn’t expect anything from him.
While cleaning, Jane notices a pearl, but the pearl necklace Edward gave her is not broken. She visits a jeweler to check whether it concerns the same pearls and it turns out to be the case. So Jane realizes that Emma might have had a necklace before. Simon, with whom she has been in contact with several times in the meantime, remembers the necklace Emma received from Edward. To Simon, it is proof that Edward killed her. How else could he recover this unique necklace and give it to Jane afterwards? To Jane it is not proof so she decides to contact Inspector Clarke to hear his views. He knows that Deon is certainly not behind the murder, because he would have taken the pearls. Clarke advises them to leave it behind and even suggests to Jane that she find another home.
Jane has the feeling that she is being watched and notices that there are all kinds of disturbances in the house and is convinced that Edward is behind it. She had confronted Edward with the chain, but he said he had two. He had given one to Emma and the other to her. She had gotten him so angry that he gave her five more days and then she had to move. Jane calls Simon, with whom she has developed a good relationship, and accepts his proposal to stay with her to make her feel safer.
But as soon as Simon is installed, she already regrets it. He sometimes calls her Em and makes her feel like he just wants to start living with Emma again, but with her, which makes her doubt about him. And then she suddenly gets the impression to count the pearls of the three necklaces and check if each necklace has the same number, which is the case. Suddenly she realizes that it is better for Simon to leave, but he refuses. Eventually it turns into a fight. Simon falls down the stairs and dies.
Toby is Jane and Edward’s son with Down syndrome. Jane is completely in love with him, while Edward leaves her a choice: he or Toby. But for Jane, the choice is easy, and she explains to Edward that she chose him to conceive because she considered Edward a suitable man. But now it is time to go her separate ways with Toby.
Main characters
Emma
She has been with Simon for over a year, who loves her very much. Emma made the decision to move after she was threatened with a knife by two burglars in her apartment. She is a manipulator and makes sure she always gets her way.
Edward Monkford
He is attractive and has short and curly hair. Edward has charm, is calm, and exudes confidence. But he is also an extreme perfectionist.
He was born in 1980 and owns the building. In 2006 he married Elizabeth Mancari. Their son was born in 2007. Both died in an accident. After this drama, he had built the house in a minimalist style and loved ones are buried in the grounds.
Jane
Her daughter Isabel was born dead not so long ago and she has no partner. Jane has dark blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Jane likes her privacy and is very independent.
Symbols and motifs
Grief
Jane has a hard time coping with the loss of her daughter. Which makes her flattered that Edward cares about her and gives her presents.
Lies
Emma lives from one lie to another that sometimes gets her into trouble.
Safety
The house is a safe place for the residents, but for this they have to release a lot of themselves, so that their privacy is minimal.
Fear
Jane has always been independent, but since she got pregnant, she finds herself feeling more scared. Ultimately she is no longer alone and has to take care of her child.
Title statement and book cover
The previous girl is a reference to Emma, who lived in the house before Jane. The book cover shows a silhouette of a woman walking around the house.
Structure and perspective / way of telling
The book consists of 398 pages, which are divided into 18 parts, each announced by a multiple choice test. And chapters that give Emma and Jane’s point of view, which is written in the I person.
Theme
Do we ever really get to know someone?
Time and place
The story takes place in the past and present, which is distinguished by using ‘then’ or ‘now’ in the title of the chapter, in Hendon a London borough.
Evaluation
The previous girl is very exciting and takes you as a reader directly into the story. The story gets an extra dimension through the story of Jane that takes place in the present and Emma that tells the past. The characters are well written and continue to surprise you, which also gives added value. The short chapters make it very easy to read the book. There is a lot of momentum in the book and you are sometimes put on the wrong track. The Previous Girl is an ingenious psychological thriller in which a few subjects are processed that are on the sidelines of the story, but which you as a reader still consider for a moment. So you have the use of all technological gadgets versus privacy, abortion and the questions that provide insight into the questionnaire. There is the question, what is the correct answer?
