June Watts

Key Points

- “’Your husband had a big influence on me.’ ‘Tom did?’ She grunted like she had on the phone.” P204 – shows disbelief/doubt in Matilda’s praise of Mr Watts?

- “There was no intake of breath” – she doesn’t like talking about Mr Watts but she would do it to make Matilda happy.

- She is a smoker

- She is Mr Watts’ wife in England

- “Large slow moving women in white slacks”

- Like the opposite of Grace - does a lot of work and doesn’t laze around

- Now dislikes Mr Watts

- Mr Watts is ashamed about his past with June Watts (his affair with Grace) – that’s why he keeps it a secret – “He should have ended it with me instead of...”

- Matilda chooses to not tell June of Mr Watts’ death – “he was fine when I last saw him”

- She denounces everything that happened between her and Mr Watts – “It means nothing to me”

- Wake-up call for Matilda: shows her that Mr Watts wasn’t all she thought he was

- June knew Grace from the affair – she seemed to hate her

Key Quotations

-          “He was always laughing… it was like being in the presence of someone who was permanently pissed.” P206

-          “I married a weak man, Matilda… Tom was not a brave man” – this seems ironic as all through the book he is seen as a brave and strong character

-          “dead air of Mrs Watts’ living room”

-          “she frowned at the street”

-          “Mrs Watts pulled a face” – she doesn’t really want to talk to Matilda

-          “She did not smile back”

-          “That’s Tom in the Queen of Sheba. And that’s her there. Queen bloody Sheba”

-          “she couldn’t, wouldn’t- take your pick”

-          “Well, I’m over it all now. It’s all water under the bridge isn’t it. I have my own problems.” – like she doesn’t care anymore

-          “I had the scrapbook and it answers the mystery about the red nose”

-          “My husband was a fantasist”