A Place Apart by Paula Fox

First published: 1977

Subjects: Coming-of-age, family, and friendship

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of work: The 1970’s

Recommended Ages: 10-15

Locale: New Oxford, Massachusetts

Principal Characters:

• Victoria Finch, a thirteen-year-old who is left in a state of confusion after her father’s death
• Hugh Todd, an enigmatic high school junior with whom Victoria becomes infatuated
• Lois Finch, Victoria’s mother
• Elizabeth Marx, Victoria’s best friend
• Tom Kyle, a new student during Victoria’s sophomore year
• Uncle Philip, Victoria’s uncle

Form and Content

The first-person narration of A Place Apart is provided by Victoria Finch, a sensitive and somewhat vulnerable thirteen-year-old. After her father’s sudden death, Victoria and her mother must move to New Oxford. The dreariness of the new house, the need to adjust socially, and the death of her father make Victoria’s outlook bleak and confused. As a freshman, she becomes best friends with Elizabeth Marx. Soon after, she meets Hugh Todd, a junior from a rich family whose mysterious aura fascinates Victoria: “I never thought as much about another human being as I thought about him.” Hugh takes an interest in some scenes that Victoria has written about her father’s death and decides that she should expand them into a full-length work, which he will direct as next year’s senior play—the first senior play to be a student’s work. Victoria is fascinated and frightened by this prospect, but she realizes that she cannot say no to Hugh. One day, Hugh draws Victoria into a game of throwing stones and shouting; although Victoria realizes how easily she can be controlled by Hugh, her infatuation with him continues.

During the summer, Hugh goes away and Victoria becomes closer to Elizabeth, although she thinks of Hugh constantly. Victoria knows that she cannot speak of Hugh to her friend because Elizabeth does not like or trust him. Victoria’s mother begins a relationship with a new man, which makes Victoria think of her father more than ever. With a week and a half left until school begins, Victoria turns her attention to her play again and feels intense excitement at Hugh’s return.

In school, Hugh conducts a meeting of the Drama Club, complete with a new student, Tom Kyle. Victoria feels betrayed as Hugh, Tom, and another student suggest major changes to her play. After another of Hugh’s games, Victoria finds herself alone in a cemetery. Among the gravestones, she is able to put her problems into perspective, and she realizes that she will have to stand up to Hugh. Victoria’s determination, however, is not as strong as she would like. She is unable to complete her play but equally unable to forget about it. Deep down, she still hopes that she and Hugh can be close again, but she sees that Tom Kyle is Hugh’s new friend. In addition, Elizabeth now has a boyfriend, Frank Wilson, and Victoria is further isolated. Victoria finally tells Hugh that he cannot use her play. She then tells Mr. Tate, the faculty producer of the senior play, and is shocked to learn that Hugh had never cleared her play for production as he had told her.

The novel moves toward its conclusion with a car ride that Elizabeth, Frank, Tom, and Victoria take on Mt. Crystal. On the way down the icy roads, Tom becomes so frightened that he wets himself. In town, Hugh sees Tom, witnesses his humiliation, and abandons him. Victoria now realizes why Hugh had an interest in Tom and herself: Both have timid natures easily manipulated by Hugh. A few days later, word spreads that Tom has been in a severe accident on Mt. Crystal, and Victoria understands that Tom tried to conquer his humiliation by driving up the mountain. Although Victoria is skeptical, Frank claims that Hugh drove Tom to such desperate behavior, and the entire school views Hugh with suspicion and contempt. In Boston, Victoria visits Tom in the hospital, but she tells no one. Shortly after, Hugh leaves school. As the novel ends, Victoria walks past the hill where she first met Hugh, contemplating what has happened in the past year, hoping for some new experience, and looking back “just once.”

Critical Context

In the works of Paula Fox, the lines between adult and young adult literature are indistinct. Like Victoria Finch, many of Fox’s young adult protagonists must face a harsh, confusing, or unjust world. Fox does not pamper her readers with nonabrasive themes or happy endings and instead, as in much serious adult literature, depicts the world in realistic and complex terms.

In How Many Miles to Babylon? (1967) Fox tells the story of James, an African American child who experiences the severity of life in the ghetto. Blowfish Live in the Sea (1970) is about the difficulty that nineteen-year-old Ben encounters in trying to reestablish a relationship with his father. In The Slave Dancer (1973), a thirteen-year-old boy is kidnapped and forced to play the fife on a slave ship, where he witnesses the cruelty of slavery. A teenage girl spends a tense summer with her alcoholic father in The Moonlight Man (1986). These works, along with several others in both adult and young adult fiction, have established Paula Fox as a master in the exploration of interpersonal relationships and as a writer who is never afraid to confront reality head-on.