47 pages • 1 hour read
Ashley WinsteadIn My Dreams I Hold A Knife
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Jessica Miller
From the first pages of the novel, Jessica Miller, the novel’s protagonist and narrator, shows herself to be self-obsessed, vain, and ambitious. Her psychic wounds, formed in childhood from her father’s unrealistic expectations and OxyContin addiction, cause her to see herself only through other people’s eyes and in comparison with the good and bad qualities of others. In college, though, she found a close-knit group of friends. Secretly, she’s jealous of them, especially Heather Shelby, the group’s informal leader, who is murdered their senior year. Unable to remember the night Heather died, Jessica believes she may have been involved in the death. She buries this fear with a series of accomplishments, like obtaining the perfect job and perfect body.
When she arrives at her 10-year reunion, she gets what she wants: all eyes are on her. But the more she understands about the night Heather died—and her part in the death—she realizes that her ambitions are shallow and meaningless if she isn’t happy. She has always feared mediocrity, but by the end of the novel, she understands that being petty, shallow, and jealous is far worse than being average.
Heather Shelby
Heather Shelby seems to have it all: She’s the most popular girl at Duquette University, and her parents “worship” her, giving her anything she wants. She’s likable, free-spirited, and moral when it suits her. Though she acts as the informal leader of the East House Seven, her friends begin to turn on her during the months before her death. As her brother Eric uncovers one secret after another about her friends’ complicity the night of her murder, the friend group seems more fractured than anyone knew.
Her presence seems to cause as much jealousy as it does fun when it becomes clear that Jessica, Caro, and Courtney envy her because she gets everything she wants without trying, or at least that’s what she wants people to think. Jessica wants her popularity, her place in Chi O, and her fellowship. Knowing she’s prettier than Heather, Courtney wants to be Phi Delt “Sweetheart” but loses out. Caro wants Heather’s attention and to be included at all costs, even if that means secretly stalking her. Though Heather appears to care about others, she also flaunts her wealth, status, and achievements once she wins the Duquette fellowship.
Mark “Mint” Minter and Brandon “Coop” Cooper
Mint and Coop are Jessica’s love interests. The princely Mint is a blonde Ken-figure at the top of the social ladder at Duquette: president of Phi Delt, heir to a real estate empire, and Jessica’s college boyfriend. Despite his charm and good looks, he is ashamed of his father for being “cuckolded” by his mother. Mint fears ending up weak like his father and chooses Jessica, as opposed to someone more at his social level, because he knows she will be grateful. He thinks he will never have to worry about her cheating on him.
Coop doesn’t have the pedigree or wealth of Mint, but he sees Jessica for who she is, which is what she wants from someone. Wavy-haired, green-eyed Coop is seen as the Duquette “bad boy,” driving a motorcycle and selling marijuana and ecstasy on the side to help his single mom pay bills. Though he is engaged to Caro, he has loved Jessica since seeing her on campus freshman year.
Eric Shelby
Eric Shelby, an unpopular skinny kid during the time the East House Seven lords over Duquette, is Heather’s brother. His life since her death revolves around finding her murderer, so much so that he has taken a job at the university to find out more information about the night she died. As this novel is partially a whodunit, his character might be compared to that of a static Poirot-like figure, slowly uncovering pieces of the puzzle, exposing the secrets of each of Heather’s friends before zeroing in on her killer.
Caro, Frankie, Jack, and Courtney
Caro, Frankie, and Jack are members of the East House Seven. Caro and Jack serve as the male and female “good guys” of the group, both sheltered, kind, do-gooders who often urge the other characters to do what’s right. When Jack is blamed for the murder of Heather, who has been his girlfriend since freshman year, it surprises everyone. Feeling like the least necessary person in her friend group, Caro follows and eavesdrops on her friends to feel closer to them. Frankie plays the part of the stereotypical dumb jock until revealing that he’s gay. As Mint's defender and best friend, he protects him until Mint sets fire to Blackwell Tower and tries to kill Jessica during the novel’s climax.
Courtney, the most beautiful girl on campus and a snob, is an antagonist to Jessica. Courtney and Heather are good friends, though Courtney resents Heather’s popularity. Becoming a fitness influencer after college, she marries Mint, creating the perfect-looking couple. Though Jessica is jealous of Courtney, she softens toward her when her addiction to diet pills is revealed.
