The Official Book Club Guide: The Rules of Seeing

Mermaid

Kate receives a surprise visit from Vi who accuses her of acting strangely. Suspicious of her sudden, intense friendship with Nova, Vi suggests that Kate should take the relationship more slowly. Kate becomes angry and tells Vi to leave.

Nova goes back to see her doctor and describes an unsettling dream she had about a mermaid. While Dr Schulman sees this vivid visual dream as excellent progress, Nova makes it clear that it is an unwelcome development. She explains that learning to see has taken over her life and she fears she may lose her sanity in the process. Nova asks Dr Schulman if it would be possible to return to being blind. He tells her that he cannot perform an operation to reverse her sight but, if she stops using her visual abilities, they will eventually fade.

Lips

At her flat, Kate invites Nova to feel the contours of her face and kisses her as she does so. When Nova responds with surprise, Kate becomes agitated and asks her friend to leave.

Ear

September

Six months later, there has been no further contact between Kate and Nova. Without Kate in her life, Nova makes the decision to give up using her sight and starts to wear dark glasses. She tells colleagues that her eye surgery was a failure and, after a period of ignoring her sight, finds that her ability to see has all but disappeared.

One day, Nova is called in to interpret in a police interview led by Tony. The interviewee is an elderly Italian man who is being questioned solely because he is the father of a suspect. Although the old man seems to know nothing about the case, Tony becomes aggressive and grabs him by the ear. Hearing the old man’s cries, Nova tells Tony to stop. Furious, Tony threatens to report Nova for ‘impeding an interview’. Unsettled by the experience, Nova wonders if she should contact Kate but decides there is little point.

Foot

October

Due to move into the new flat with Tony in two weeks’ time, Kate looks for the mortgage paperwork. When she cannot find it in the usual place, she becomes suspicious and thinks, again, of the incident with the white square of paper. She searches their home and, in addition to signs that Tony might be having an affair, she finds a dozen white squares taped to the bottom of a drawer. On closer investigation, the squares turn out to be envelopes containing a suspicious white powder.

When Tony returns from work, Kate confronts him with her findings. After unsuccessfully trying to convince Kate that the drugs are police evidence, he launches a savage assault on her. When neighbours start hammering on their door, alerted by Kate’s screams, Tony stamps on his wife’s head. Before opening the front door, he hits himself on the head with a paperweight. Unable to move, Kate hears an angry exchange between Tony and the neighbours. They force their way in and tell her that an ambulance is on its way.

Pigeon

November

As a result of Tony’s attack on her, Kate is recovering from cracked ribs, a fractured wrist, a punctured eardrum, and concussion. Tony does not return to the flat, but a colleague picks up some of his things and tells Kate that her husband is taking time off work for therapy.

Kate moves into the new flat alone. She longs to see Nova but realises she deleted her phone number months earlier. Recalling that Nova mentioned a friendship with her blind tutor at Oxford, Kate finds John Katzner’s contact details and calls him. Nova has told John that she no longer wishes to see Kate but he agrees to contact his former student to ask if she might change her mind. Shortly afterwards, Kate receives a call from Nova. Overcome with emotion, Kate breaks down on the phone and Nova declares that she is coming to see her.

Lungs

When Nova arrives at the flat, Kate tells her everything that has happened since they last met. Nova agrees to stay the night but, when Kate asks if she wants to share the bed, insists she will sleep on the sofa. In the aftermath of a nightmare, Kate wakes up screaming. Nova talks her out of her panic attack, teaching her a way to breathe and count.

Unable to go back to sleep, Kate and Nova buy an array of snacks from the 24-hour garage for a midnight feast. On the walk back, Kate stops to admire the moon and Nova admits that she can no longer see. Kate suggests that it would be nice if they could enjoy the moon together and pledges her support, should Nova wish to give sight another try.

Fish

December

Kate and Nova have slept in the same bed for the past month and, in an unspoken agreement, are living together. Despite obvious chemistry between them, their relationship remains platonic. The two women have made a pact: if Nova learns to see again, Kate will try to overcome her increasing fear of leaving the flat.

Kate receives an empty envelope in the post and tries to convince herself that the sender has made an innocent mistake.

Heart

Kate has continued to receive empty envelopes on a regular basis. Keeping her anxieties to herself, she has omitted to tell Nova or the police.

Nova takes Kate to her favourite café and is overjoyed when she orders the Safinova Surprise. Created by Nova, the sandwich is an unusual combination of pepperoni, pickles and peaches.

Butterfly

On New Year’s Eve, Kate receives an early morning call from a withheld number. No one speaks but she is sure she hears a rabbit being skinned on the other end of the line. Shaken by the call, she cannot face leaving the flat. Nova suggests they pass the time by building a fort and the women create a cocoon-like tent in the living room. Inside, they tentatively kiss and then make love.

PART THREE – OBJECTS

Key

January

Kate invites Vi to her flat hoping to heal the rift between them. When Kate nervously reveals the nature of her relationship with Nova, Vi responds positively, relieved that her friend is no longer with Tony. After Vi’s visit, Kate gives Nova a key to her flat.

Shell

Kate and Nova take the ferry to Paris, providing Nova with her first real sight of the sea. Kate has now received a total of fifty-six empty letters.

In Paris, they eat snails, drink absinthe, and kiss in public for the first time. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, they declare their love for each other. The next morning, when Nova leaves the hotel to buy breakfast, she thinks she glimpses Tony but convinces herself that her vision is playing tricks on her.

Car

April

Nova and Kate go out for dinner. When they return to Kate’s flat, they find her neighbour’s pet rabbit hanging dead above the door. Police officers arrive, and Kate admits that she has been receiving empty envelopes. She suggests that her husband is the culprit but feels that the police officers look sceptical when Tony’s name is mentioned. Once they are alone again, Kate brushes off Nova’s attempts to comfort her and shuts herself away in the bedroom.

Rucksack

May

Although a month has gone by since the dead rabbit incident, Kate’s fragile state of mind has not improved. Refusing to set foot outside the flat, she continues to push Nova away. In the meantime, Nova has returned to sleeping on the sofa and confronts the challenges of the outside world alone.

Faced with daily unresponsiveness from Kate, Nova admits defeat. Claiming that she is going to check on her flat, she packs a bag and leaves. She calls the MET to inform them that she will not be returning to her job and texts Kate to say that she is going to Oxford.

Cake

July

Two months after Nova’s departure, Kate is still devastated. She visits her mother, hoping to share her sorrows. Once Mrs Tomassi hears of Kate’s impending divorce, however, she makes it clear that she does not want to hear any further details. Nevertheless, Kate ploughs on, revealing that she is in love with a woman. Her mother tells her to get out of the house and never return.

In Oxford, John Katzner has died unexpectedly, and Nova attends his funeral. Although Rebecca has promised to support Nova through the event, she turns up late and drunk. Nova realises that, without John, very little remains for her in Oxford.

In London, Kate decides to end it all by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. She calls Nova’s mobile phone to listen to her voicemail message one last time.

At the funeral reception, Nova notices that Kate has called her and is puzzled by her silent voicemail message. On the verge of calling her back, she is interrupted by the unwelcome news that Rebecca has become ‘unwell’.

Kate briefly regains consciousness after taking the pills and realises that she does not want to die. She calls the emergency services.