Seven Days in June

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Parts 6-7

Part 8-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Character Analysis

Genevieve Mercier/Eva Mercy

Genevieve Mercier, who changed her name to Eva Mercy upon publication of her first book, is a bestselling author of Cursed, a fantasy erotica series featuring witches and vampires. Eva is one of the main protagonists and a major point-of-view character in the novel.

The novel sets up Eva as a heroine in many ways—not necessarily by giving her innate psychological qualities but by placing her in circumstances that require heroism. In other words, Eva faces tremendous obstacles, and her heroism accrues through her continual decisions to face them head on. Moreover, most of these obstacles are intertwined. The first challenge is her career; she feels she’s outgrown her Cursed series, and she’s always had to fight tooth and nail for recognition, but she’s driven by her desire to provide for her daughter—which, in turn, ties into the challenge of motherhood and her own traumatic childhood with a neglectful mother. The challenge of her career also ties into that of being a Black woman; not only do her male counterparts automatically receive credit and attention (while Eva, in contrast, must strive for it), but the entertainment industry insists on whitewashing her series.

Another obstacle that underlies all this is Eva’s invisible disability. She has agonizing migraines that have stumped specialists and doctors alike, but she manages them with injectable pain medication, marijuana gummies, essential oils, and breathing techniques. This invisible disability has affected her entire life. As a teenager, the headaches were even worse. This illness isn’t only a challenge in its painfulness per se; the most profound aspect of its difficulty draws from Eva’s compulsive desire to appear invincible and independent, while the migraines make her feel vulnerable and even weak. Eva’s character arc is, on one level, a journey toward self-acceptance and allowing herself to be vulnerable, and the migraines are a motif that illustrates that arc. Of course, her relationship with Shane—the axis on which the novel spins—is the central catalyst for her movement toward self-acceptance.

Shane Hall

Shane Hall is a reclusive, elusive award-winning author. He is best known for his four works of literary fiction, always set in the same nameless and impoverished neighborhood. His most famous work was Eight, which earned him praise for his well-developed characters and plotless stories that portrayed humanity’s triumph over circumstances.

As a teenager, Shane was angry and would fight at any opportunity he could. When he was a child, his foster mother died in a car accident, and when his foster father couldn’t bear to look at him, Shane reentered the foster system and moved around to multiple homes. He used various substances—alcohol, cannabis, opioids—trying to numb his pain until he met Genevieve, the first person to make him feel like he was home.

Now sober, he must learn to navigate his trauma, emotions, and relationships without relying on his old coping methods. This is his motivation to reach out to Eva, to make amends for the past, leaving her and never reaching out to her. He also struggles writing without drinking, so he has turned to teaching and mentoring at-risk youth.

Audre Zora Toni Mercy-Moore

Eva’s 12-year-old daughter is at the top of her class socially and academically. Though she is intellectually driven, Audre is also deeply in touch with pop culture and her generation’s ethos. This emerges through her slang, social media usage, and sense of style: “[S]he took style cues from Willow Smith and Yara Shahidi, hence the two space buns atop her head, tie-dye crop top, cutoffs, and Filas […] she looked like Bambi at her fist Coachella” (15).

Fiercely protective of her mother, Audre is also in awe of her. Not only does Eva cope with her headaches, but she has stories of travel and a successful writing career. Part of why Audre admires these traits in Eva is because they reflect ambition, and Audre, too, is ambitious, innovative, and intense. She has a reputation at school as a psychologist of sorts—“therapy is [her] calling” (19). Her top-notch liberal education has made her smart and socially aware, but often she pushes her boundaries with her mother.

Audre is curious about her family’s history and doesn't know about their past through her mother’s curated stories about her family. Eva works hard to hide her daughter from her family's hardships and not pass down the generational trauma. Eva’s desire to protect Audre is inseparable from her high aspirations for her daughter. Eva’s creativity, fierce independence, and aspirations find expression in the name she gave her daughter: Audre Zora Toni. The name is inspired by three towering literary figures, each of whom is a Black woman: Audre Lorde, Zora Neal Hurston, and Toni Morrison.

Lizette Mercier

Eva’s mother is a “delicate, distracted woman, too wispy to negotiate the details of grown-up living” (26). Since Eva was a toddler, she and her mother moved from apartment to apartment with different men who promised a better life: “As she graduated from her ‘hot young thing’ years, the dazzle dulled” (26). This was her most significant flaw; she would fling herself at whoever came along after her relationship imploded. However, the narrative subtly alludes that Lizette’s motivations weren’t shallow or thoughtless; these men provided money, and Lizette did want to provide for her daughter. Still, while her methods might have ensured some financial stability, they created other, social forms of traumatic instability. She always wore White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor, a perfume choice that symbolizes the “drama” of her character.

Once a pageant queen herself, Lizette now trains pageant contestants. She and her daughter don’t talk much, but Lizette's stories about her mother and grandmother informed Eva’s curiosity about her family and the Mercier family curse that men will always leave.