The Hawthorne Legacy

These chapters further emphasize the class distinction between Avery and the Hawthorne family. For example, when the group flies to True North, Avery notes that she’d never flown on a private plane before. Avery’s attendance at the fundraiser in Emily’s honor also highlights how her upbringing disadvantages her in the new social sphere. Avery doesn’t know how a silent auction works, for example, and relies on Max to help her figure it out. Through her everyday activities, Avery is constantly reminded that she’s “other” from the Hawthornes and lacks their privileged upbringing. All the money she now has access to can’t make up for that fact.

These chapters also provide valuable foreshadowing regarding some mysteries Avery will solve later in the book. For example, in Chapter 31, Max tells Avery that a tabloid is suggesting that Avery’s mother was living under a fake name. Later, Avery will find out that this is true—Avery’s mother, who Avery knew as Sarah, was Hannah, the sister of Kaylie, the girl who died in the Hawthorne Island fire.

However, Avery doesn’t yet question her mother’s identity. Instead, she’s fixated on the red herring—the false clue—of her father’s identity. Avery is convinced that Toby/Harry is her father, not Ricky Grambs. For this reason, she asks Alisa to take Ricky’s used beer bottle and check; Avery tells Alisa, “I want a DNA test” (131).

Another piece of foreshadowing comes at the fundraiser, when Rebecca’s mother breaks down in tears and says, “Never trust a Hawthorne. They take everything” (135). These words will take on new meaning when Avery discovers that Rebecca’s mother got pregnant as a teenager—and that Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin took her baby and gave it up for adoption. That baby was Toby/Harry, and Tobias Hawthorne and his wife Alice O’Day are the couple who adopted him.

These fleeting moments—Max’s comment about the tabloid rumor and Rebecca’s mother accusing the Hawthorns of taking everything—seem trivial in the moment. However, they show the author’s careful attention to detail, dropping small hints that Avery still has to discover. The author is creating a trail of metaphorical breadcrumbs that will only make sense in retrospect, both to the reader and to Avery.

Finally, these chapters move the plot forward in some tangible ways, as multiple revelations are made. First, Avery learns that Toby/Harry may have been responsible for the fire on Hawthorne Island (142). Second, Avery learns of a decades-old rift between Skye and Zara, something that goes back to their teen years; later, she will learn that Zara had a romance with a man named Jack Nash—and that Skye slept with him (Jack Nash will turn out to be Nash’s biological father). Finally, Avery discovers the clue that leads her to True North after she deciphers a line in Tobias’s will is the pivotal clue.

The compass itself isn’t just a clue but a symbol of the game/puzzle/mystery at large. It can also be seen as a representation of the proverbial “moral compass.” Under this construct, following the “true north” of your personal (symbolic) compass means doing the right thing and staying true to your personal path in life. Ironically, the compass gains significance in this cluster of chapters, where it becomes clear that Toby/Harry lost sight of his own moral compass’ true north when he purchased the accelerant that contributed to the Hawthorne Island fire.

Hawthorne House also gains symbolic significance in these chapters. To go to True North, Avery must convince Alisa and Oren to give her permission to leave the mansion. Avery remains chained to Hawthorne House since she’s not allowed to spend more than three nights per year away from the mansion in the first year following her inheritance (or she will have to forfeit it). The house is a symbolic representation of the proverbial “gilded cage“ (defined as “a place where someone appears to live in luxury but where he or she has very little freedom”): It’s a beautiful, luxurious mansion but nonetheless a prison.