Women In Fiction: Camilla Macaulay, The Secret History

Camilla Macaulay is perhaps an odd choice for a single female character as she is nearly always mentioned in the same breath as her twin brother Charles. And yet in Donna Tartt's atmospheric college crime classic, she is the only female character of any depth or note, the Queen whom Tartt describes as finishing out a suit of dark King, dark Jacks and Joker.

The Secret History starts with the death of a college student at the hands of his friends. As you pick back through the story in the hands of narrator Richard Papen, you are introduced to all the characters through the veil of his interpretation, and because he is in love with Camilla the three dimensionality of her character is the most difficult to get to grips with. Infinite readings later I still catch nuances missed the first hundred times that tell me a little more about her.

Her character arc also oscillates more than most. Where Richard, Bunny, Francis and especially Henry only become magnified versions of themselves as the book progresses, both twins are cracked open to reveal opposing - or at least wildly unexpected - traits to those that appear on the surface.

Camilla's name is indication enough that there is more than meets the eye, of course. Camilla is the daughter of Horatius, the significance of which I won't reveal for fear of ruining the unread book. But for those who are good at spotting classical references, the colour celadon is also associated with her.

Camilla's past is one of domestic upheaval, reared as she is by her grandmother after her parents die young in a car accident. The rural upbringing she shares with Charles in Virginia make them, on the surface, the least unusual of the people Richard becomes friends with. They are faithful and supportive friends, sending him letters over a lonely, dangerous winter spent alone in the Vermont snow, and offering him his introduction to the group. It is Camilla who appears, apparition-like, before him and leads him into their friendship and also Camilla with whom the story ends, and her pale, slim presence, reminiscent of a "Flemish angel" is the punctuation mark to every interaction Richard has with the group, even when he spends very little time directly talking to her.

Camilla veers from warmth and laughter to ice-maiden intensity, solitary in her habits, impatient, a consummate actress whose skill at winding Richard, Henry and Charles around her little finger is beyond question. When she is first introduced in any detail it is whilst quoting the Orestia, playing Klytemnestra, the murderous queen of King Agamemnon, who butchers him on his return from Troy. She reveals half-truths, admits little and her character seems to go in and out of focus - blurriest when Richard focuses on her, and sharpest when he is distracted and her true self, sans rose-tinted spectacles, is allowed to show.

One thing she isn't is particularly lovable. Even amongst fans who are entranced by her there is mostly a sense of being hypnotised, rather than attracted. The boys all have their irksome characteristics with Charles's unpredictable moodiness, Francis's indolence, Henry's calculating coldness and Bunny's bluff Puritanism all causing winces of dislike. However, they are all more warmly human - even Henry - than Camilla until very near the end of the book when the greatest indication of her humanity is revealed.

One gets the feeling from Donna Tartt that she doesn't, in fact, like women much. The only other female characters of any detail - Judy Poovey, Marion, Katherine Corcoran, Priscilla - are all either flighty and stupid or heartless and rather cold. Maybe that's why her main female character had to be so evasive and mysterious.

Alex Roumbas is Deputy Editor of Shiny Shiny. After hearing the audiobook, she always reads The Secret History in Robert Sean Leonard's voice in her head.

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