October O'Brien in Rock Paper Scissors: Character Analysis

Overview

October O'Brien is a young, award-winning Irish actress who never appears in the novel's present-day action but exerts a powerful influence over its plot. She is introduced through the anniversary letters that Robin writes to Adam, where she is described as stunning, successful, and smart, and as utterly charming, modest, and sweet. October is the actress who falls in love with Adam's screenplay Rock Paper Scissors and whose enthusiasm moves the project from a decade-old script into pre-production. Her death — officially suspected suicide — cancels the film and becomes one of the novel's most persistent unresolved questions.

October functions as both a catalyst and a mirror. She sets the plot in motion by championing Adam's work, and her death leaves a gap in the narrative that the novel never fully closes. The newspaper clippings about her found in the kitchen drawer at Blackwater Chapel suggest that someone has been tracking her story long after her death, and the novel deliberately leaves open the question of whether her death was truly suicide. Her story connects directly to the novel's exploration of the unreliability of perception and the fragility of identity.

Plot Role

October's role is primarily catalytic. She is the actress who fell in love with Adam's screenplay, and her attachment to the project is what moves it forward. In the fifth-anniversary letter, Robin describes how Adam came home drunk after spending the evening with October, babbling about her genius suggestions for the script. October's involvement attracts a producer and moves Rock Paper Scissors into pre-production.

October also functions as a source of marital tension. Robin's jealousy is triggered by the evening Adam spends with October, and the letter describes how Robin Googled the actress and saw how beautiful she was. But October's subsequent behaviour defuses this tension: she insists on cooking the couple an anniversary meal, and Robin describes the evening as wonderful — a moment of genuine warmth in a marriage that is already fraying.

Her death, discovered months before the couple's seventh anniversary, cancels filming and removes the project's momentum. The screenplay is only revived years later when Robin — writing under Henry Winter's name — incorporates it into her novel. October's death thus shapes the novel's ending as much as her life shaped its beginning.

Motivations and Traits

October's motivations are never directly stated, but her actions reveal a consistent pattern. She loves Adam's screenplay and wants to see it made — she gets in touch via his agent, offers detailed notes, and uses her celebrity to open doors in Hollywood. She is generous: she cooks the couple an anniversary meal, loans them her French villa in Champagne, and is described by Robin as the most kind or generous woman she has ever met.

But the novel also hints at a more complicated interior. October has a history of speeding offences — she loves driving fast cars — and faces court over them. Her stage name conceals her real identity: mail addressed to R. O'Brien reveals that October is a persona. This gap between public image and private self is a recurring motif in the novel, and October embodies it. She is, in a sense, an actress in both senses of the word: someone who performs a role for the public while keeping her private self hidden.

Chronological Arc

October's presence in the novel is almost entirely retrospective. She appears in the anniversary letters that Robin writes to Adam, and in the present-day action only through the newspaper clippings and the characters' memories.

Before 2013: October reads Adam's screenplay and loves it. She gets in touch via his agent.
28 February 2013 (fifth anniversary): Adam spends the evening with October; the next day, October cooks the couple an anniversary meal.
2013–2014: Rock Paper Scissors enters pre-production with October attached.
28 February 2014 (sixth anniversary): October loans the couple her French villa in Champagne. She faces court for speeding offences.
Months before February 2015: October is found dead in a London hotel, suspected suicide.
28 February 2015 (seventh anniversary): Her death has cancelled filming of Rock Paper Scissors.
Present day (2020): Newspaper clippings about October are found in the kitchen drawer at Blackwater Chapel.

Relationships

With Adam: October is the actress who believes in Adam's screenplay when no one else will. Adam is clearly infatuated — Robin notes his ridiculous grin when he talks about her. But there is no evidence of an affair; October's behaviour toward the couple is consistently generous. Adam later defends her memory, insisting that her death was suicide when Amelia raises the possibility of foul play.

With Robin: Robin and October become friendly while Adam works with October. Robin's letters describe October warmly, and the anniversary meal October cooks is a highlight of the couple's fifth year. But the newspaper clippings in the chapel kitchen suggest Robin's interest in October's death was more than casual. The novel never confirms what that interest was.

With Amelia: Amelia is jealous of October initially — she Googles the actress and feels inadequate next to her beauty. But the anniversary meal wins her over, and she describes October as utterly charming, modest, and sweet. Amelia later uses October's death as evidence in her argument that people who came between Adam and Robin seem to die or disappear.

Key Decisions and Consequences

October's key decisions are mostly off-page, but their consequences ripple through the novel. She decides to champion Adam's screenplay, which sets the production in motion and attracts a producer. She decides to cook the couple an anniversary meal, which defuses — at least temporarily — the jealousy her presence had caused. She loans them her French villa, which gives the couple one of their happiest anniversaries.

Her death — whether suicide or something else — has the most significant consequence: it cancels the film and removes the project's momentum. It also leaves a question mark over the novel's web of secrets. The clippings in the chapel kitchen, and Amelia's observation about people who die or disappear around Robin, are never resolved with respect to October. This unresolved thread feeds into the novel's larger meditation on the corrosive power of secrets and lies in intimate relationships.

Themes and Symbols

October connects to several of the novel's central themes:

The unreliability of perception: October appears as a charming, generous celebrity, but her stage name and her death suggest that public images conceal private realities. The novel repeatedly shows that what people appear to be is not what they are.
The corrosive power of secrets: October's death is never fully explained; the clippings in the chapel kitchen imply that someone is keeping her story close. Her stage name is itself a secret — a concealment of identity that mirrors the novel's larger pattern of hidden truths.
Storytelling as control: October's death shapes the narrative of Rock Paper Scissors — it cancels the film, and the screenplay later becomes part of Robin's novel. October's story is, in effect, rewritten by others, connecting to the novel's theme of storytelling as a means of control, revenge, and self-reinvention.
The illusion of control: October's speeding offences suggest a woman who believes she can control the consequences of her actions; her death suggests otherwise. The novel's title, Rock Paper Scissors, points to the role of chance in human destiny, and October's fate is one of its clearest illustrations — a connection explored further in the illusion of control and the role of chance.

Questions and Answers

1. What is October O'Brien's role in getting Adam's screenplay made?

October is the actress who fell in love with Adam's screenplay Rock Paper Scissors. Her attachment to the project attracts a producer and moves it into pre-production. Without her, the screenplay — which Adam had been rewriting for a decade — would likely have remained unproduced.

2. How does October's death affect the production of the film?

October's death, discovered in a London hotel and suspected to be suicide, cancels filming of Rock Paper Scissors. The project loses its momentum and its star. It is only revived years later when Robin — writing under Henry Winter's name — incorporates the screenplay into her novel.

3. What does the discovery of newspaper clippings about October in the chapel kitchen reveal?

The clippings, found in a kitchen drawer at Blackwater Chapel, suggest that someone has been tracking October's story closely. Given that the chapel is Robin's childhood home and the clippings are part of the trap she has set for Adam and Amelia, they imply Robin's interest in October's death was more than casual — though the novel never confirms what that interest was.

4. Is October's death confirmed to be suicide?

No. The novel reports that October was found dead in a London hotel, suspected suicide, but this is never confirmed. Adam defends the suicide theory when Amelia raises the possibility of foul play, and Amelia's comment that people who came between Adam and Robin seem to die or disappear leaves the question open.

5. How does October's relationship with Robin complicate the narrative?

October and Robin were friendly — Adam notes that Robin became quite friendly with October O'Brien while working together. But the clippings and the timing of October's death (which removed a project that was pulling Adam away from Robin) create an unresolved tension. The novel never states whether Robin was involved in October's death, but it deliberately leaves the possibility open. For a fuller discussion of how these threads resolve, see the ending explained page.