Good Bad Girl Chapter 37: Clio – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Clio returns home and double‑locks the door, then draws all curtains and blinds. She still feels watched and sometimes hears her daughter and husband in the house. Six months after losing their baby girl, Clio’s husband left her. She avoids mirrors except one at the top of the stairs, used only for client appointments. Clio does not drink or take drugs but is addicted to collecting trainers. She keeps over five hundred pairs, most unworn, in what was once her daughter’s nursery. The room is her sanctuary, a place of control. She recalls the difficulty of becoming a mother, the pregnancy, and the loss of her daughter Eleanor. Clio insisted on giving Eleanor her surname, Kennedy. Her husband pretended to be fine with it. She remembers her mother’s saying about falling down. Clio’s collection began after her daughter died; opening new trainer boxes was her only joy. She sits on the floor and admires a rare pair of 1980s Nike Air trainers worth thousands. Selling them could ease her financial issues, but she refuses to lose more precious things. The trainers represent things she wanted but lost: a daughter, a husband, a loving family. Her collection is her secret and she is ashamed of it, but it is not her biggest secret. She wishes she had someone to call, but she pushed friends away after her loss. She takes another shoebox that does not contain trainers, instead a small white photo album. The first photo shows Clio in a hospital bed holding baby Eleanor, glowing with joy. Subsequent pages show the baby everywhere, including tiny birthmarks she preferred to call freckles. She finds a photo of her mother Edith holding the baby, wrapped in a ladybug blanket. Clio’s husband had persuaded her to reconcile with her mother when the baby was born. He was wrong. He never said he blamed Clio, but she felt he did. She reflects: how could a trip to the supermarket ruin their lives?

Key Events

Clio arrives home and secures the house, feeling watched.
She avoids mirrors and reflects on her husband leaving after their daughter’s death.
She visits her “collecting room,” filled with over 500 pairs of unworn trainers.
She recalls the difficulty of pregnancy and the loss of her daughter Eleanor.
She opens a box of rare 1980s Nike Air trainers but does not sell them.
She reveals the room was once the nursery; her collection is a coping mechanism.
She retrieves a hidden photo album from a shoebox.
She remembers her mother Edith holding the baby, reconciling at her husband’s insistence.
She questions how a trip to the supermarket could have caused the tragedy.

Character Development

Clio Kennedy: This chapter deepens Clio’s portrayal as a therapist who cannot heal herself. Her grief is physical: she locks doors, avoids mirrors, and hears echoes of her family. Her trainer collection is a surrogate for control and safety, a direct response to childhood poverty and adult loss. She admits to having a “dirty secret” and hints at an even bigger one. Her avoidance of friends and her refusal to sell the trainers show that she clings to pain as identity.

Clio’s husband (unnamed): Though absent, he is a key figure in her memories. He left six months after Eleanor’s death. He pushed for a reconciliation with Clio’s mother, a decision Clio now considers a mistake. He never explicitly blamed Clio, but she felt his blame.

Eleanor (deceased baby): Represented through photographs and Clio’s memories. Her birthmarks (which Clio called freckles) and the ladybug blanket are vivid details. Eleanor’s existence and loss define Clio’s present.

Edith (Clio’s mother): Appears in one photograph, holding Eleanor. Her earlier saying about falling down reappears in Clio’s thoughts. The reconciliation with her was short‑lived.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Control and order: The trainer collection is meticulously shelved; the room is a “sanctuary” of neatness against the mess of Clio’s life. Unworn trainers symbolize unfulfilled potential and static grief.
Mirrors and self‑perception: Removal of mirrors reflects Clio’s refusal to face herself. The one remaining mirror is for professional appearances only.
Childhood poverty vs. adult wealth: Clio’s childhood lack (cheap plimsolls) drives her adult compulsion to collect expensive, unworn trainers.
Secrets and shame: Clio admits her collection is a “dirty secret” but hints it is not her biggest. The hidden photo album suggests unrevealed truths about the baby’s death.
Grief as isolation: Clio’s avoidance of friends and her belief that grief is contagious show how loss can sever social ties.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 37 is a pivotal character study. It transforms Clio from a peripheral helper into a deeply grieving mother and wife. The trainer collection is a unique metaphor for coping with trauma through accumulation. The cliff‑hanger of a “bigger secret” and the unresolved question about a supermarket trip raise the stakes for the second half of the novel. This chapter also establishes the emotional core for Clio’s actions and may foreshadow her connection to the broader mystery (possibly the disappearance of another child).

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Clio collect unworn trainers?
Answer: The collection gives Clio a sense of control that her life lacks. Growing up poor, she could not afford nice shoes; now she buys rare, expensive trainers she never wears. The act of opening a new box was the only thing that brought her joy after her daughter’s death. The trainers are a substitute for the family she lost.
What does the hidden photo album reveal about Clio’s past?
Answer: The album contains photos of Clio, her baby Eleanor, and her mother Edith. It shows a moment of happiness and reconciliation. Clio’s husband urged her to reconnect with Edith after Eleanor’s birth. The album also holds the photo Clio is looking for—her mother holding the baby in a ladybug blanket—which triggers painful memories and the suggestion that Clio blames herself for what happened.
What is the “bigger secret” Clio hints at?
Answer: Clio says her trainer collection is not her only secret, and it is not her biggest. The exact nature of this secret is not revealed in this chapter. Given the context of her daughter’s death and the mention of “a trip to the supermarket” ruining their lives, the larger secret likely involves the circumstances of Eleanor’s death and possibly Clio’s role in it.