She also remembers running after Clare’s car, but she can’t remember what led up to those events. Nora remembers holding James after he received a bullet wound. Later chapters reveal that James died at the house. Nora desperately tries to remember what happened. She overhears that someone has died and then later hears that the police suspect murder.

Interspersed in the chapters detailing the party are brief chapters set in the present time, with Nora in the hospital. Flo is again furious and then inconsolable that the party is being “ruined.” The group goes to a clay pigeon shooting range that day and Flo gives the others a “How well do you know the groom?” quiz. Because there is no cell phone reception at the house and the landline has gone down, she can’t reach her family and insists on returning home. She misses her baby and is not enjoying the party. In the morning, Melanie decides to leave. When Nora wants to go to bed before the others, Flo becomes enraged, proclaiming that Nora is “ruining” Clare’s hen party. Nina makes sarcastic jokes about Nora and James during the party that upsets Nora. There is a lot of tension at the party that evening, due to the strangely oppressive house, Flo’s extremely overbearing need to make this the “perfect” hen do for Clare, and Nora’s struggle to deal with her undisclosed, traumatic memories concerning Clare and James. This mysterious event influences the reclusive way Nora has lived her life since school. In Nora’s narration, there are veiled indications that some crucial, unfinished matter exists between Nora and James. After their breakup, Nora severed contact from James and has not seen him in the 10 years since. The other guests are Melanie Cho, a new mother who knew Clare and Flo at university, and Tom Deauxma, who worked with Clare for the Royal Theatre Company.Ĭlare reveals that she is marrying James Cooper, who was Nora’s boyfriend in school. Nora and Nina arrive at the hen weekend, held at a remote house in the forest owned by Flo’s aunt. Another invitee is Nora’s friend Nina de Souza, the only friend from school with whom she has kept in touch. Nora does not want to go to the hen party but feels compelled to go when the maid of honor, Florence “Flo” Clay, begs her to come. Nora alludes to some serious situation that makes her want to keep her former friends like Clare in her past. The invitation to this party was a shock to Nora, as the bride-to-be is Clare Cavendish, who was Nora’s best friend through primary and secondary school, but whom she has not seen in the decade since then. The main part of the story details the hen do (bachelorette party) that Nora attends.

In a dark dark wood description