Claire Character Analysis

In Mumbilli, Claire was Daniel's girlfriend. Tom describes her as being different from Daniel's other girlfriends in important ways; namely, she didn't back down when Daniel got moody and sulky, and Daniel loved her a lot more than he loved other girls. This made Daniel very possessive of her, which backfired spectacularly: Claire was terrified of Daniel and had a not-so-secret crush on Fin, whom she began to see the week before the accident with Kylie's help. Claire broke up with Daniel at the party, which set the stage for the fight between Daniel and Fin and ultimately, culminated in the accident. Mum and Kylie blame Claire for what happened, at least in part, but Daniel, Tom, and Dad insist that it wasn't Claire's fault. Though she visits Daniel for a while after the accident, she leaves Mumbilli before finishing her final exams at school. Her parents find her a job as a nanny overseas, and she sends a number of postcards to Fin over the course of the novel. Tom sees Claire's departure as another loss for Mumbilli as a result of the accident.