Walter Crane (British, 1845-1915)

Walter Crane (British, 1845-1915)

The Swan Maidens, 1894

If the compass breaks,

then follow your heart

And I hope it leads you

right back into my arms

It’s November and I don’t have a girlfriend? *scoffs* homophobic.

— OWENS HOUSE in Practical Magic (1998)

still thinking about how donna tartt executed the concept of having no moral binary in her characters so well. when you first read the secret history your desire is to place henry, francis, and camillia in the right. and that would work, except that henry is so obessed with the aesthetic of perfection and of the intellectual that he has lost his moral compass altogether. francis is so attached to his wealthy, comfortable lifestyle that he'd rather sacrifice his own well-being and desire in order to maintain it. camilla knows the implications of the wrongdoing that she and the others have committed, but she doesn't change her behavior or try to solve the situation, because that would disrupt the order she is trying her hardest to maintain. ultimately, they are all iredeemable, both for their own faults and for their participation in bunny's murder, and that's exactly what makes the novel as thematically nuanced as it is.