The Final Gambit

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-20

Chapters 21-30

Chapters 31-40

Chapters 41-50

Chapters 51-60

Chapters 61-70

Chapters 71-79

Chapters 80-86, Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 80-86, EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 80 Summary

Avery thinks about how she knows Toby’s play style; she played chess with Toby a lot when he was masquerading as “Harry,” an unhoused man, back in Connecticut. Avery watches Toby and Eve play the first match and sees that Toby lets Eve win. Vincent also notices this; he threatens Eve’s life if Toby does it again. Next, Avery plays Toby. Toby loses. Avery realizes: “Toby had lost both matches. He was Blake’s” (331).

Chapter 81 Summary

Vincent tells Toby, “You’re a Blake now, and Blakes don’t lose to little girls” (332). Avery apologizes, feeling she’s failed to rescue him; Toby reassures her, saying that she reminds him of her mother. Grayson is brought out. Since Avery won one match already, she can take him with her. Avery and Eve play; Avery lets Eve win on purpose, as she knows Vincent will not stop seeking revenge against Tobias under these circumstances. Avery then asks Vincent to play her, telling him that she doesn’t want people finding out about Sheffield Grayson. Avery names her terms: If Avery wins, Vincent keeps the secret about Sheffield Grayson; if Avery loses, she will make Vincent the trustee of her Hawthorne inheritance.

Chapter 82 Summary

Vincent agrees to Avery’s terms. Avery calls Alisa to explain the situation and prove to Vincent that she’s serious about the terms: If Avery loses, Alisa will draft the paperwork making Vincent the trustee of Avery’s fortune. Then, Vincent agrees to play.

Chapter 83 Summary

Avery knows she has an advantage because Vincent watched Avery’s match against Eve—not realizing that Avery threw the match on purpose. Avery wins. She knows that he will honor their agreement: “I’d bet everything on the only real assurance Tobias Hawthorne had given me. That if I bested Blake, he’d honor the win” (341).

Chapter 84 Summary

Avery, Grayson, and Alisa leave Vincent’s property. Avery urges Toby to try and flee, but Toby says will stay with Vincent. In doing so, he’s protecting both Eve and Avery—his biological daughter, and the girl he sees as his second one. If Toby stays with Vincent, Eve will have a home with the Blakes—Toby is the link that connects Eve to Vincent, assuring her a place in his home. By staying with Vincent, Toby also upholds the terms of the chess matches that Vincent set; if Toby were to break those terms, Vincent would likely come after Avery again. Before Avery leaves, Toby says goodbye to her and gives her a small wooden cube he whittled for her while he was bored and held captive.

Chapter 85 Summary

Back at Hawthorne House, Avery realizes the cube that Toby gave her is a small puzzle. When she opens it, she finds the words carved in the wood: “I see so much of your mother in you” (348). In the days that follow, Avery reflects on the upcoming deadline—she will soon have lived for one year Hawthorne House and will then inherit the Hawthorne billions, officially. She thinks about what she’ll do with the money and comes up with a plan.

Chapter 86 Summary

Avery celebrates the big day at Hawthorne House with the Hawthorne grandsons, Libby, Thea, and Rebecca. Max is present via video call. Alisa is also there. At midnight, when Avery officially inherits, she turns on the TV and they all watch a news report announcing Avery’s plans for the inheritance. A news reporter reveals, “Ms. Grambs has announced that as of midnight, she has signed paperwork transferring 94% of her inheritance into a charitable trust to be distributed in its entirety in the next five years” (358). Avery is happy with her decision as she thinks to herself, “All that money. All that power. Dispersed, where no one person would ever control it again” (360).

Epilogue Summary

It’s been one year since Avery officially gained control of the Hawthorne fortune, and she’s being interviewed by a reporter. Avery is still with Jameson, and the two of them are traveling the world together. She plans to go to the University of Connecticut to study actuarial science—her old dream, which she had before she inherited Tobias’s fortune. Libby is running a cupcake truck and engaged to Nash, who’s working in a bar. Xander is working with Isaiah as a mechanic. And Grayson has dropped out of Harvard to focus on finding the charities to give the money away to. In the interview, Avery reveals she will also host a contest once per year, giving away life-changing prize money—she’s going to call it The Grandest Game.

Chapters 81-86, Epilogue Analysis

The last chapters of The Final Gambit see many of the book’s central themes and symbolic representations peak. First, there’s the motif of games and puzzles, which has run throughout the trilogy. As she did with Eve, Avery uses a game to take Vincent’s measure; she knows that, by throwing her game against Eve (a metaphorical Queen’s Gambit), he will underestimate her abilities even more than he already has. She uses this to bait him into a final match, in which she risks the Hawthorne fortune to get Vincent off her back once and for all. Symbolically, Avery opens her game against Vincent with the actual Queen’s Gambit.

The fact that The Final Gambit ends with a chess match is fitting because the entire trilogy opens on a chess match. The story has come full circle, carrying the symbol of chess—the ultimate game of strategy—through from start to finish.

The book’s final chapters also wrap up the major thematic arguments regarding The Dangers of Wealth and Power and The Tricky Nature of Inheritance, which are inextricably tied within the story. After witnessing the behaviors of the wealthy and greedy—Tobias, Vincent, William Blake, and Eve, just to name a few—Avery recognizes that great amounts of wealth and power should never be concentrated in a single person or entity. This leads to her decision to disavow Tobias’s inheritance and give away the bulk of it to charity. By relinquishing control, Avery frees herself and the other Hawthornes of the temptation to become just as corrupt and manipulative as their forebears. She points out that no one is physically capable of spending even the small percentage of wealth she keeps for herself; thus, donating the majority of her inheritance is the only truly moral choice. Though the donations cannot undo the harm Tobias wrought, it is the best thing Avery can do with the legacy she’s been given.

Avery’s decision, and these final chapters, also speak to the book’s argument regarding The Tricky Nature of Inheritance. An inheritance is not necessarily guaranteed. One day, a person can be rich—the next, poor, depending on the circumstances. What seems like the most logical option—such as Grayson becoming Tobias’s heir—can be upended with a few simple words. Vincent and his seals are the biggest example of the tenuous nature of inheritance and the ways it can be used to control others.

The narrative suggests that, if there are too many strings attached to the inheritance, it is better not to have it. Avery recognizes this when she donates most of the inheritance. The Hawthorne boys also see it. In the Epilogue, the Hawthorne grandsons have all taken up mundane lives, working at bars or garages. They don’t seek money, fame, or power, and they realize that the Hawthorne fortune was, in many ways, a burden.

Toby represents the final example of The Complexity of Love. He essentially sacrifices himself for Eve and Avery’s sakes, staying under Vincent’s thumb to protect the girls. Avery is unhappy, especially since Eve openly stated her disdain for Toby and his attempts to shield her from the Hawthornes. However, she recognizes that Toby made his choice out of love—especially when Toby tells her she reminds him of her mother, the woman he once loved. The Final Gambit shows that real-life love, whether romantic or familial, is complicated and sometimes painful—but that it can also be powerful.