45 pages • 1 hour read
William RitterJackaby
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Abigail Rook
Abigail Rook is a young, upper-middle-class English woman who thirsts for adventure. She comes from a family who wanted her to follow a traditional role and discouraged her dreams of paleontology and exploration. Even after Abigail breaks free from her parents’ expectations, she still fears their unconscious hold over her and her choices. For this reason, she writes to them often so they know she’s safe but never gives them a return address.
When Abigail arrives in New Fiddleham, she retains a positive outlook even as her living and financial circumstances become increasingly dire. When she meets Jackaby for the first time, she immediately processes the experience through her adventure books: “Yes, you’re like whatshisname, aren’t you? The one who consults for Scotland Yard in those stories” (7-8). Rarely throughout the novel does Abigail exhibit true fear; even as she understands the danger she is in, she never loses her sense of curiosity and adventure. In this way, she and Jackaby are alike, as he also prioritizes a thirst for truth over his fear of death.
Although the novel focuses on Abigail’s partnership with Jackaby and her place in his home, her strongest relationships are with Jenny and Charlie. Jenny becomes a sister figure to Abigail, juxtaposing her discordant relationship with her blood family. With Jenny, Abigail can embrace her femininity without sacrificing any of herself in return. With Charlie, she finds the potential for romance and connection. Her willingness to open her heart sets her apart from typical YA heroines who eschew love in favor of duty or adventure, while her unique relationship with Jackaby avoids common romantic tropes that would be easy to fall into here.
Abigail’s shift from the beginning to the end of the novel is subtle and involves her trusting her strengths and finding a place in a new home and found family. Rather than trying to change her, as her parents did, Jackaby and her other new friends accept her for how she is. Abigail also comes to see the world of the natural and supernatural as more of a spectrum than she did at the opening of the novel; while she was immediately ready to blame Mrs. Morrigan simply for being an otherworldly creature, she later comes to understand that the divide between good and evil, and indeed what is human and what is not, is more nuanced than she first believed. By the end of her journey, her understanding of the world and her place within it has shifted—yet she still retains the core sense of self that initiated her journey in the first place.
R. F. Jackaby
R. F. Jackaby—whose first and middle names are never revealed, and who goes simply by the name “Jackaby”—is the book’s title character but not its point of view character. This structure is an homage to classic literature in which the intended protagonist was narrated by an external character: Watson and Holmes, Ishmael and Captain Ahab, Utterson and Dr. Jekyll. In Jackaby’s first appearance, he invades Abigail’s personal space and makes a series of deductions based on her appearance, treating her like a curiosity piece: “He managed to seem both engrossed and entirely uninterested in me all at once” (7). This setup shows Jackaby as perceptive, curious, and slightly erratic, but it also illustrates his emotional distance from humanity. The irony is that in being able to see aspects of Abigail that ordinary people can’t—namely, the evidence of supernatural beings on her clothes—he loses sight of her as a person. Highlighting this dichotomy between heightened perception and blindness displays a need in his work that Abigail can fill.
Within this detachment, Jackaby is also arrogant and elevates himself above others. He is never intentionally cruel but states the simplicity and inferiority of others as objective facts. He does not respond easily to the emotions of others, which gets him in trouble with Mona O’Conner. This inability to access emotional communication cues him as neurodivergent, though it’s never overtly stated. Despite his emotional isolation and overconfidence, however, he shows a touching compassion to people like Hatun. He extends his kindness to Abigail when she needs a place to stay, though it is never discussed; Jackaby assumes such kindness should be taken for granted and says, “Of course she’s staying here! Where else would she stay?” (143). Jackaby recognizes cruelty as a reality of life, but his internal relationship with the world is black and white.
Like his literary inspiration, Sherlock Holmes, Jackaby does not undergo a dynamic change across the novel. He is positioned as a constant within the erraticism and chaos of the supernatural world around him. However, he does display a degree of growth at the novel’s end when he gifts Abigail with her custom-made notebook. Such gestures are unfamiliar and uncomfortable for him, but he makes a real effort to show his gratitude and trust in a way that will resonate with her. The narrative incorporates small physicalities, such as facial expressions, to convey what Jackaby’s straightforward dialogue will not. By the novel’s end, Jackaby and Abigail have come a little closer to understanding each other as they move forward into the future.
Charlie Cane
Charlie Cane is a supernatural shapeshifter trying to live as a regular human being. Unlike Jenny and Jackaby, he didn’t come into his power later in life; he was born to a shapeshifting family, which Jackaby calls “a nomadic tribe […] feared and misunderstood, and constantly on the move” (264). The fact that Charlie could settle into a secure life and home impresses Jackaby and highlights how hard Charlie had to work for what he has. He is loyal and pushes himself to his limits in the aid of others, taking personal responsibility for guarding Mr. Henderson. Even after Jackaby assures him nothing can be done, it is in Charlie’s nature to fight for the innocent until the end. He also risks his own life to protect Abigail from Swift. Ironically, it’s his loyalty, determination, and selflessness that seal his fate: The pressure he puts on himself to protect others causes him to transform unexpectedly, and the injuries he sustains while he rescues Abigail prevent him from escaping the eyes of the community and the law. In rising to meet the challenges around him, he sacrifices the very home and security he worked so hard for.
Charlie and Abigail are attracted to each other from their first meeting; however, Charlie prioritizes his duty to the police force and especially to Inspector Marlowe. He defends Marlowe against Jackaby, saying, “Marlowe is an exceptional chief inspector” (45). Even away from his birth family, Charlie has adopted a pack mentality in his new life and is quick to support those around him. He represents a steadiness and reliability that contrasts his dual nature. Unlike classic werewolf or Jekyll-and-Hyde-type stories, this duality is not presented as an internal battle of good and evil but as two sides of one whole. This helps give Abigail a greater understanding of this new world in that the natural and supernatural are not two opposing forces but interconnected. By the novel’s end, Charlie is forced to “follow in his ancestors’ footsteps” (265) by picking up his life and starting again. However, a foundation is laid for him and Abigail to continue being a part of each other’s lives.
Jenny Cavanaugh
Jenny died many years before the events of Jackaby, yet she has a powerful, lifelike, and endearing presence in the novel. The circumstances around her death are not explored in this installment (though it becomes the focus of a novel later on in this series); however, the reader learns that she met Jackaby when the latter was sent to exorcise her from her home. Jackaby was the first human to treat her like a real person since her foray into the afterlife, so he retains a special place in her heart.
When Abigail first arrives at Jackaby’s home and meets Jenny, she is bemused by how the two talk around each other like an old married couple. This shows the way Jenny and Jackaby have become acclimatized to each other’s presence and reached a level of comfort and intimacy, even though it’s presented in an objective manner.
Later, Jenny confides in Abigail that Jackaby was impressed with her heroics: “I believe the word he used most was ‘foolhardy,’ but you learn to tell with Jackaby” (271). While Jackaby is still something of a mystery to Abigail, Jenny has learned his rhythms and façades to see the humanity underneath.
Within the household, Jenny is often the voice of reason when difficult circumstances or discord arise. When Jackaby argues with Douglas about his transformation—perhaps seeing in him his failure to protect his team—Jenny intervenes on Douglas’ behalf. She also ensures that Abigail has a safe place to stay, stepping up when Abigail doesn’t feel comfortable doing so herself. This shows that Jenny feels responsible in caring for the household, even though—or perhaps because—she is limited in what she can contribute due to her circumstance. She also shows this in how she cleans the house, using her own gloves that allow her to interact with the physical world and by helping to prepare Abigail’s room. In each other, Jenny and Abigail find a much-needed female friend they had both lacked before.
