63 pages • 2 hours read
Lisa UngerConfessions on the 7:45
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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
Selena Murphy
Selena Murphy is the protagonist. The novel starts and ends with her point of view, and 19 of the chapters are from her perspective. Her discovery that Graham and Geneva are having an affair is the inciting incident from which the rest of the plot unspools. She is a strong and intelligent woman and a dedicated mom and friend. She gives the impression of having it all; she can handle any problem that comes her way and can juggle all of the responsibilities in her life. Her husband, Graham, does not seem to be pulling his weight in their family, even aside from his infidelity.
However, Selena has a weakness: She frequently lies to herself to maintain the image she has in her head of her perfect, loving family. She likes to post pictures of her family on Instagram with funny and loving captions, even when her personal life is falling apart. Like her mother, she keeps quiet about her husband’s indiscretions to keep the peace. When she learns that Graham is cheating on her with Geneva and Geneva disappears, though, she has to start confronting the truth, not just about his infidelity but about his dark and violent tendencies. In replicating her mother’s coping mechanisms, Selena embodies the theme of Cycles of Generational Trauma. This is reinforced by her choosing Graham as a partner, a man who behaves similarly to her father.
Eventually, Selena faces the truth, developing into a stronger and more honest character. While her marriage falls apart, she can rebuild a new life. Based on how she has handled the events of the novel, she seems capable of doing so by the end of the book.
Graham Murphy
Graham is Selena’s husband, the book’s antagonist, and one of several “monstrous” men in the novel who commit despicable crimes against women. He is introduced in a negative light with the reveal that he is having an affair with the nanny. Graham is charismatic, charming, and exciting, but he is also immature and irresponsible; he was laid off from his job and refuses to find another one, relying on Selena instead. Selena has overlooked these qualities for years, but when Geneva goes missing, she realizes Graham has a much darker and more dangerous side.
Graham has had other questionable interactions with women: Selena caught him sending inappropriate texts to an ex-girlfriend and looking at other women when they were out. A more serious example is when he went to Las Vegas beat up an exotic dancer. Though Selena doesn’t see it right away, these incidents form a pattern of violence.
It turns out that Graham didn’t kill Geneva, but he did kill Jacqueline Carson, the woman whose complaints about him caused him to get fired. He lies and gaslights Selena until the very end; even after he is convicted of Jacqueline’s murder, he insists that he doesn’t remember doing it. As such, Graham is a static character, a villain without many redeeming characteristics.
Pearl (Martha/Anne/Elizabeth/Emily) Behr
Pearl Behr is a secondary protagonist. Fourteen of the chapters focus on her perspective, though some are labeled as “Anne” instead of “Pearl.” She is the daughter of a single mother, Stella, who has many boyfriends and is not always focused on Pearl’s well-being. When Stella brings home Charlie Finch, Pearl grows attached to him. They become close, and when they find Stella murdered in her bedroom, Pearl runs away with Charlie. They develop a father/daughter relationship, and she learns to be a con artist like him. She goes by several names throughout the novel, which creates confusion for both the characters and the reader about who she really is. Pearl is a complex character—a criminal who nonetheless cares for others and is capable of evoking sympathy. Many of her plans become complicated because she can’t emotionally separate from her marks the way Charlie can.
Pearl’s biological father is also Selena’s father, who had had an affair with Stella. He did not care about Pearl, only about maintaining his reputation, so he gave money to both Stella and Pearl to keep quiet. When Pearl grew up and found him, she began following his family and eventually exposed him as the “monster” he really is, which led to Selena’s parents divorcing. Pearl is motivated to orchestrate an affair between Geneva and Graham out of revenge; she wants to hurt her father’s family. This motivation changes, however, when she sees what kind of person Graham is. She becomes more interested in helping Selena see the truth and break free from him. By the end of the novel, she decides to stop being a con artist and try living a normal life, marking her as a dynamic character.
Geneva Markson
Geneva Markson is the Murphy family’s nanny. In the several chapters told from her perspective, we learn that she feels more disgust toward Graham than anything else; someone else is urging her to proceed with the affair. She gets several texts from an unnamed person and encounters unnamed people out on the Murphys’ street; who she is and what happens to her is a mystery for most of the book. Largely absent from the text, Geneva is a relatively flat character whose presence (and disappearance) spark the plot.
Geneva is pretty as well as responsible for and patient with the Murphy boys. Selena trusts her and thinks highly of her; when she discovers the affair, she believes Graham is more to blame than Geneva is. Later, though, Selena learns that Geneva also had an affair with her neighbor, Erik Tucker, and blackmailed him to keep quiet. This makes Selena and the reader question whether they really know Geneva.
In the “Pearl” chapters, Pop brings home a timid teenage girl named Gracie. Her mother has been murdered, and he adopts her to be Pearl’s sister. Gracie suspects that Pop killed her mother, but she clings to him for safety. When Pop is shot by Bridget and Gracie kills Bridget, it is revealed that he called her Gennie, short for “Geneva,” linking her and Pearl together. They are working together on the con against Selena’s family. Though Geneva learned how to con from Pearl, she does not enjoy it and is eager to quit for good once the case with the Murphys is resolved. At the end of the novel, she is free to do what she wants, and she takes on the new identity of Alice Grace Miller.
