CHAPTER TWO: STANZI
Tuesday 25 September 2001
Chapter Two is also set in Melbourne, but time has been rapidly fast-forwarded. Events are unfolding at the dawn of the 21st century. Hawthorn and Malvern are the principal locations, while Rowena Parade still figures in the narrative’s landscape, albeit very subtly. Unlike the first chapter, the second chapter is narrated from Stanzi’s point-of-view. Stanzi is a deeply unhappy 35-year-old counsellor with an office in Hawthorn. Even though the postcode of her office makes it seem like she’s a success, the leafy well-to-do locale of her practice does not mirror her inner realities. The truth is that Stanzi is wrestling with her own inner demons; her dissatisfaction with her job and her struggles with her weight are a recurring motif throughout the chapter. Indeed, Stanzi’s unhappiness is mirrored in the context of the times. Even though it’s the era of Sex and the City, it’s also the era of fears about SARS, and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre has just occurred, although isn’t referred to explicitly. Like Chapter One, the world of the text is a complex place— while Australia is physically safe, the domestic sphere of the characters is also troubled and unsettled. The chapter focuses principally on Stanzi’s relationship with her client, Violet Church, particularly in regard to her ‘daddy issues…eating disorder and history of kleptomania’ (page 37). Stanzi fears that Violet has stolen Stanzi’s father’s shilling (page 46) from her desk during a counselling session. Stanzi’s fears lead her to Violet’s house where she is humiliated by Violet and her father, Len Church, the nadir being the moment Violet tells Len that seeing Stanzi makes her feel ‘better…[and] grateful’ (page 60) because she realises, ‘“At least I’m not fat”’ (page 61). This proves to be a major turning point for Stanzi. She realises that travelling to Violet’s house was a ‘violation of [their] relationship’ (page 70) and that she ‘can’t do this job anymore’ which echoes Connie’s turning point and possible emancipation in Chapter One and establishes a major theme—breaking free. Like Chapter One, Jordan is careful not to give away too much too early, instead choosing to give small hints here and there to help the reader place who Stanzi is and how she is connected to the first chapter. It’s very much like a puzzle. Stanzi’s father is presented as a loving father and the reader is told he is ‘seventy-six’ and a ‘photographer’. The reader is told that Stanzi’s mother is an ‘only child brought up by her father who died just before she was married’ (page 64) and that ‘Dad was her first boyfriend and only love’. A second key talisman is also introduced to complement the shilling—‘Mum’s amethyst pendant’ (page 63). Stanzi’s twin sister, Charlotte is also introduced. Stanzi lives in Rowena Parade with twin sister Charlotte and her two children, Alec and Libby (page 66). While the first chapter is more about the relationship between parents and sons, this chapter is very much about fathers and daughters. Even though Violet has ‘daddy issues’, Stanzi’s relationship with her father is strong and affirming and later in the chapter Stanzi reveals her father is Kip (page 65), establishing that this novel will very much be about the slow reveal. Kip then reveals—somewhat intriguingly—that his home contains, “Fifty years of family photos, but none of Connie. If you had met her, you’d see. You look like her. Beautiful” (page 66), but the reason that Stanzi has never met her aunt and that there are no photos of her remains a mystery.