Pieces of Her

Laura Oliver, whose real name is Jane Queller, is Andy’s mother. A 55-year-old speech pathologist, she has lived in Belle Isle, Georgia for many years and has an ex-husband named Gordon. When the novel begins, she is presented as a beautiful, cool, and polished woman. According to Andy, “Laura wasn’t the type for heavy make-up and pearls, but she never left the house without her short gray hair neatly styled, her linen pants crisply starched, her underwear clean and still elasticized” (6). Andy frames her mother in stark contrast to herself, someone who “knew where all the tops were to her Tupperware” (6). She seems unflappable, even in the diner confrontation with the shooter. However, this representation of Laura contrasts with her younger self in the 1986 timeline.

Before she changed her name, Laura Oliver was Jane Queller, also known as Jinx. Jane is the main focus of the 1986 narrative and, although she tells no one, is pregnant with Andy throughout the course of the story. From a young age, Jane was a pianist, and as an adult, a famous one. However, she left her career as a concert pianist and turned to jazz, and then studio work. Jane comes to realize that she and her brother, Andrew, are in a cult, of which her boyfriend, Nick Harp, is the leader (as per the theme The Cult of Nick). But even as she begins to question her relationship with Nick, she finds it difficult to break up with him. Nick abuses Jane, physically and mentally, which continues the cycle of abuse in her life that began with her father, who physically, mentally, and sexually abused her from a young age. Throughout her story, Jane transforms from a woman who fears disapproval and abandonment by Nick, to one who walks away from her relationship in order to save herself and her unborn child.

Nick Harp is Jane Queller’s boyfriend (Laura Oliver’s ex-boyfriend), older than her by three years, and the leader of the Army of the Changing World. He is also Jane’s brother Andrew’s best friend. The manipulative Nick invents a horrific past of abuse for himself to lure Jane into a relationship. Later in the story, Jane finds out Nick’s real name is Clayton Morrow, that he was raised in Maryland by his pilot father and PTA president mother, and has four siblings. It is believed that he murdered his girlfriend in Maryland, and his family sent him to live with his grandmother in California, where he met Andrew at his college (and gave him drugs). Clayton Morrow was the real Nick Harp’s drug dealer, who stole his identity when Nick overdosed.

Nick is portrayed as overwhelmingly handsome and charismatic, though Jane notes this charisma “either worked for him or against him. There was never any in between” (218); for example, his charisma fails to sway the FBI agents who investigate the Queller siblings. When Andy sees a photo of Nick, she instinctively equates him to a cult leader, describing him as “a boy who looked like Zac Efron with Charles Manson’s eyes” (355). Nick uses his charisma to develop his organization and ensure the devotion of his followers. He reveals his capacity for murder and abuse on several occasions, first when he kills Dr. Alex Maplecroft and then when he strangles Jane until she passes out. However, perhaps the most brutal exposure of Nick’s true nature is his use of Polaroids of a beaten Jane (supposedly by her father) to coerce Andrew into joining his group. In reality, he was the one who beat a pregnant Jane to the point of causing her to miscarry.

Paula Kunde, whose real name is Paula Louise Evans, is a member of the Army of the Changing World. The reader first meets Paula in 2018, when she is a professor at the University of Texas in Austin. Before this time, she spent 20 years in prison for murder. Andy describes her as “basically a washed-out old hippie. Her hair was a mixture of blonde and gray with an unnatural-looking dark streak in the bangs” (117). Later, Andy finds a picture of Paula from the 1980’s: “Thick, black lines of make-up were smeared beneath her eyes. Fingerless gloves were on her hands. Combat boots were on her feet. She was wearing a beret. A cigarette dangled from her mouth” (355). In both instances, Andy sees Paula as slightly ridiculous, but comes to recognize that she is dangerous—an assessment supported by Paula’s actions in the 1986 narrative.

Karin Slaughter uses Paula to illustrate the relationship between a cult leader and his follower. Paula is fully committed, not just to the cause, but to Nick Harp. She worships him, and her adoration spans the two narratives of the novel, lasting more than 30 years. Even in 2018, she is willing to take orders from Nick—committing abduction, extortion, torture, and even murder in order to secure his parole. When Andy first meets Paula, she notices that her house is stark white, without any color or decoration. She understands the reason for this later, when Paula says, “I’ve got everything ready for Nick when he gets out…I wouldn’t presume to choose those things without him” (420). She is the perfect follower to Nick’s cult leader, unlike Jane Queller (Laura Oliver), a fact that ultimately causes her death.