Walking on eggshells (Simile)
Meggie, Callum’s mother, finds working for Jasmine Hadley hard to navigate, and soon she is fired and ostracized from Jasmine’s community. Before her firing, Meggie wonders: “Had she done something wrong? She didn’t think so, but God only knew that being around Crosses was like walking on eggshells.” Comparing being around all Crosses, not just Mrs. Hadley, to “walking on eggshells” communicates that being around them without making a mistake is an impossible task.
Four lonely peas (Metaphor)
When Sephy sees her family’s home, she thinks, “Four people in such a vast house—four lonely peas rolling about in a can.” The metaphor comparing her four-person family to lonely peas creates a sense that something is wrong, since normally a can would be either completely full or completely empty. It also gives a sense of useless space—what is the point of an entire can devoted to just four peas?
A throbbing thumb (Simile)
Sephy sits at the noughts’ lunch table and sees Shania, who was injured during the protests on their first day. She observes that Shania has “a dark brown plaster on her forehead which stuck out on her pale white skin like a throbbing thumb.” The simile draws on the cliché “stick out like a sore thumb” but is slightly altered, which emphasizes the strangeness of the phrase, encouraging us to read it more closely. The thumb is specifically “throbbing,” giving a sense that it has been hit, or injured—not just “sore” from use or a mistake. There is a bit of body horror imagery here, imagining a throbbing thumb sticking out on Shania's forehead.
Secret like a shroud (Simile)
Callum observes after his sister’s death that “Lynette’s secret still hung heavily over me, like a shroud” because he is the only one who knows that she committed suicide. A “shroud” is something that conceals, but it’s also a word for a burial garment, used to wrap or dress a corpse. This simile shows that Callum is not only weighed down by his sister’s secret, but that he, too, feels corpse-like under that weight.
Like Old Man Tony (Simile)
“He began to tremble like Old Man Tony when he’s got the DTs,” Callum thinks when he sees his dad secretly praying. This simile works in two ways: It tells us that Callum’s father is shaking out of control, like a man detoxing, and that he’s struggling with something serious; it also gives us insight into Callum’s close-knit nought community, since we learn that he’s very familiar with Old Man Tony and with his drinking trouble.
Love was like an avalanche (Simile)
When he reunites with Sephy, now pregnant with his child, Callum thinks: “Love was like an avalanche, with Sephy and I hand-in-hand racing like hell to get out of its way—only, instead of running away from it, we kept running straight towards it.” Avalanches are huge, powerful forces of nature, so Callum comparing love to an avalanche demonstrates that it’s similarly powerful—and dangerous. Nonetheless, he and Sephy keep running toward it. This simile provides a bit of foreshadowing, as that avalanche is going to crash down on their heads.
