Juna Character Analysis: The Sister Who Reveals the Centre's Secrets

Overview: The Sister Who Refuses to Let Go

Juna is Jelka's sister, a secondary character who enters the novel's present-day timeline when she contacts Miri to share what she has learned about the Centre's handling of the deep-sea mission. Though she appears in only a handful of chapters, she functions as a crucial conduit of information: she is the one who tells Miri that Jelka is dead, and she later becomes Miri's practical ally in caring for Leah. Her investigation into the Centre's cover-up positions her as a counterweight to the institutional silence that surrounds the mission. She is also, in her own way, a study in ambiguous grief—a person who has been left alone in her mourning while the world around her has moved on.

Plot Role

Juna first appears in Chapter 30, when she arranges to meet Miri at a café. She has called early because she has not been sleeping, and she wants to speak in person. She tells Miri that Jelka is dead, that the Centre first gave contradictory information, then screened her calls, and eventually closed its website and operations. She says she has been investigating on her own and has things to show Miri. Miri cuts the conversation short, but Juna pays for her tea and walks her partway home.

Juna's role expands in the novel's final stretch. When Leah's condition deteriorates to the point that Miri can no longer keep her in the bath, Miri calls Juna, who agrees to come with her car. Juna arrives in Jelka's dark green Volvo, wearing pajamas under a moleskin coat, and helps Miri transport Leah—filling bottles and bowls with salted water, packing clothes, and driving through the night to Miri's mother's house by the sea.

At the house, Juna tells Miri what she knows about the mission's aftermath: when the craft surfaced, only Leah and one other crew member were aboard. Jelka died during the dive, and her body was expelled from the craft while submerged. After an altercation at the Centre, a man gave Juna Jelka's effects and a phone number that later proved disconnected. Juna also gives Miri a coat containing pages Leah wrote, which had been mixed in with Jelka's things.

Motivations and Traits

Juna's primary motivation is the pursuit of truth about her sister's death. She tells Miri she has been looking into things and trying to find out what the mission really was. Her investigation is driven by the Centre's evasiveness: the contradictory information, the screened calls, the closed website. She refuses to accept the official account at face value.

Her actions reveal several traits:

• Persistence: She does not wait for the Centre to contact her; she goes to the Centre herself after unhelpful phone calls, and she argues with staff until someone senior appears.

• Directness: She tells Miri plainly that Jelka is dead, and she is willing to share uncomfortable information.

• Practicality: When she sees Leah in the bathtub, her response is immediate and concrete: she says they will need water, and she helps fill bottles and bowls, packs clothes, and drives.

• Compassion: She tells Miri she did not want her to be alone, and she walks Miri partway home after their first meeting. Later, she allows Miri to lean her head on her shoulder.

• Self-awareness about grief: She reflects on how friends moved on after a month while she remained holding on to the person she is supposed to let go of.

• A wry, self-deprecating humor: She jokes about the religious decals on her sister's car, saying she does not have the energy to scrape them off, and she tells a rambling story about an older couple's open marriage, admitting she is just trying to make noise.

Chronological Arc

Juna's arc in the novel is relatively compressed. She appears in the present-day timeline in three main phases:

1. The café meeting (Chapter 30): She contacts Miri, delivers the news of Jelka's death, and begins to share her findings. Miri cuts the meeting short, but Juna remains patient and offers to talk again.

2. The phone calls (Chapter 32): Juna calls Miri, who asks for more time. This shows Juna's persistence and her respect for Miri's boundaries.

3. The rescue and journey (Chapters 36, 38, 40): When Leah's condition becomes critical, Miri calls Juna, who arrives quickly with her car. She helps transport Leah to Miri's mother's house, shares her full account of the Centre's behavior, and gives Miri the pages Leah wrote.

Relationships

Juna and Jelka: Juna's relationship with her sister is conveyed through absence. She drives Jelka's car, keeps Jelka's effects, and speaks about her with a mixture of grief and frustration. Her comment about the car's religious decals suggests a wry, affectionate relationship with her sister's choices. She recalls that Jelka, when she first got the job, kept saying the Centre people were weird—a detail that retroactively reads as foreshadowing.

Juna and Miri: Their relationship develops from wary strangers to practical allies. At their first meeting, Miri is guarded and cuts the conversation short. By the end, Miri leans her head on Juna's shoulder, and Juna drives her and Leah through the night. Juna's gift of the pages Leah wrote—which she had brought to their first meeting but withheld because she did not think Miri would want to take them—shows her sensitivity to Miri's emotional state.

Juna and the Centre: Juna's relationship with the Centre is adversarial. She describes being given contradictory information, having her calls screened, and watching the website disappear. Her altercation at the Centre—where she threatened to go to the newspapers or get a lawyer—is her most direct confrontation with the institution.

Key Decisions and Consequences

1. Contacting Miri: Juna decides to reach out to Miri despite not knowing her well. This decision brings the news of Jelka's death into Miri's life and sets up their later alliance.

2. Investigating the Centre: Juna's decision to pursue information on her own—going to the Centre, arguing with staff, demanding to see someone senior—yields the effects and the disconnected phone number. It also gives her the knowledge she later shares with Miri.

3. Helping Miri transport Leah: When Miri calls, Juna agrees immediately and arrives with her car. This decision enables Leah's final journey to the sea.

4. Giving Miri the pages: Juna withholds the pages at their first meeting, then gives them to Miri at the house by the sea. The timing suggests she has been waiting for the right moment.

Theme/Symbol Connections

Juna is central to the novel's exploration of the failure of communication and support systems. The Centre's contradictory information, screened calls, and closed website are the institutional failures that Juna must work around. Her investigation is a one-woman attempt to pierce that silence.

Her reflections on grief connect to the theme of ambiguous grief. She articulates the experience of being left behind by mourners who move on, and her reference to letting go of the dead in the water foreshadows Leah's final dissolution in the sea.

Juna's investigation also speaks to the limits of knowledge. She tells Miri that the mission was meant to be a research trip, but she does not know what it really was. Her uncertainty mirrors the novel's broader sense that the deep sea resists understanding.

Her role in the ending connects to the ending explained page, where her practical help enables Leah's release into the ocean.

Questions and Answers

1. Why does Juna contact Miri?

Juna contacts Miri to tell her in person that Jelka is dead and to share what she has learned about the Centre's handling of the mission. She says she did not want to tell Miri over the phone and thought seeing her face would make it easier.

2. What does Juna learn about the Centre's behavior after the dive?

The Centre first gave contradictory information, then screened her calls, and eventually closed its website and operations. When she went to the Centre in person, she was told Leah and the other crew member were in quarantine, and an altercation followed before a senior man gave her Jelka's effects and a phone number that later proved disconnected.

3. How does Juna help Miri care for Leah?

Juna arrives with her sister's car, helps fill bottles and bowls with salted water, packs clothes from Miri's wardrobe, and drives Miri and Leah through the night to Miri's mother's house by the sea.

4. What does Juna give Miri at the house by the sea?

She gives Miri a moleskin coat containing pages Leah wrote. The pages had been mixed in with Jelka's effects, and Juna had brought them to their first meeting but withheld them because she did not think Miri would want to take them.

5. How does Juna describe her experience of grief?

She says the thing about losing someone is not the loss but the absence of afterward—the endlessness of it. She describes how friends were sad but moved on after a month, leaving her alone in that place, still holding on to the person she is supposed to let go of.

For more on the novel's broader questions, see the questions and answers page or return to the book overview.