A Lesson in Vengeance is a dark and twisty thriller about what goes on at Dalloway, a boarding school haunted by witchcraft. Read on for an inside scoop on the main characters from the author Victoria Lee! And if you haven’t already, pick up your copy of A Lesson in Vengeance below!
Felicity Morrow—Nine of Wands
The Nine of Wands depicts an injured person holding a wand, with eight other wands looming menacingly over them. The wands are the suit of spirituality and the creative mind. Nine has overcome many spiritual challenges, and now must face one final test. Felicity, too, has overcome the loss of her girlfriend, Alex, and dealt with the subsequent demise of her mental health. Now she’s returned to boarding school to finish off her senior year, but everywhere she looks the shadowy halls seem haunted by Alex’s ghost and the specters of her own past mistakes.
Ellis Haley—Knight of Swords
The Knight of Swords card shows a figure on a charging white horse, sword held aloft. The white horse is meant to represent the intellectual passions driving the knight, just as the suit itself reflects cognition and the rational mind. Ellis, like the knight, isn’t one to passively wait for things to happen to her; she rushes forward to take what she wants, even if that recklessness can backfire. She’s a well-spoken, natural storyteller, who is very good at inspiring other people to see things her way.
Leonie Schuyler—Six of Swords
The Six of Swords, like the Knight of Swords, is from the suit that represents intellectual thought. It pictures a woman and her child rowing across water toward a new land, the woman’s head bowed in quiet reflection. The card is usually interpreted as a journey out of turbulent waters toward a more peaceful future. Leonie is a historian, and she’s well aware of the dark past of Dalloway. But she is determined to use her knowledge of history to build a better future. She believes that learning from the past is the only way for us to grow.
Kajal Mehta—Four of Cups
The Four of Cups card depicts a young man sitting beneath a tree. He is so focused on his introspection that he fails to notice an outstretched arm offering him a cup (or the three other cups that sit nearby). Kajal is similarly introspective; she’s struggling with an eating disorder and tends to put up a cold, aloof front to hide her insecurity in social situations.
Clara Kennedy—Six of Cups
The Six of Cups shows a child passing a cup of flowers to another younger child; they stand in the courtyard of a large home surrounded by cups overflowing with blooms. This card usually represents revisiting the past or childhood innocence and joy. Clara is a very childish character sometimes, but in the story she is often a foil for Felicity’s dead girlfriend, Alex, whom Clara remembers. In this way, she is a constant window into Felicity’s past.
Alex Haywood—The Devil
The Devil card shows a pair of lovers bound by chains, the horned devil rising behind them, larger than life. It symbolizes bondage, the shadow self, and negative thoughts and forces that you can’t break free from, addictions and old, maladaptive patterns. Alex is dead when A Lesson in Vengeance begins, but she still looms over Felicity on every page, a constant reminder of Felicity’s own darker side and the things that tempt her to be a worse version of herself.
