70 pages • 2 hours read
Beth O'LearyThe Flatshare
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 2-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “April” - Part 3: “May”
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary: “Tiffy”
Tiffy is behind on editing Katherin’s book. She doesn’t have enough pictures of Katherin’s patterns, and Katherin can’t crochet fast enough to make a sample of every pattern to photograph for the book. She is worried that they won’t have enough pictures to fill the pages and that production will be delayed.
Tiffy has been baking more because she is still worked up about seeing Justin on the cruise. She believes that it must have been fate that brought them to the same place at the same time and that maybe they really should get back together. Tiffy putters around the flat anxiously, talking to Mo about it. Mo tells her that Justin is manipulating her because she is loyal and trusting and that she feels like she needs to be with him because he made her feel like she was incompetent and lost without him. Tiffy does not see it that way, but Mo tells her that she will.
While on the phone, she finds the bag of scarves under the bed and writes a quick note asking where he got them. She suggests that he could sell them for a lot of money online if he doesn’t want them, rather than sending them to the charity shop.
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary: “Leon”
Leon visits Richie in prison. Richie asks if there has been any news from Sal, and Leon tells him that he’s still working on paperwork, which is holding up his appeal. Richie is frustrated, saying he can’t wait much longer. Leon says he’ll find a new lawyer if he wants him to, but Richie doesn’t want to start from scratch with someone else, either. He tells Leon that if they can just get the footage from the security camera at the store he is accused of robbing, it will be clear that it wasn’t him.
When he gets to the flat, he sees Tiffy’s note about selling Mr. Prior’s scarves and is eager to hear more about how to do that. He explains that one of his patients made them and that he has given Leon so many that he doesn’t know what to do with them all. He tells Tiffy that she can take her favorite, and he will try to sell the rest.
Tiffy follows up by asking if Mr. Prior would be interested in crocheting some scarves and hats from Katherin’s book because they are in a rush to get some to photograph. After getting permission from the hospice, Mr. Prior starts crocheting. He is curious about Tiffy, and he and Holly ask Leon a lot of questions about her. Holly asks if she’s pretty, and he says he wouldn’t know because they never see each other. He concedes that she seems nice, if a little nosy and strange. Holly asks if they live together like a boyfriend and girlfriend, and Leon insists they are just friends, but then Holly asks if they have separate bedrooms. Leon is grateful that he is called away before he has to answer.
Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary: “Tiffy”
Tiffy picks up Post-its that she and Leon have been leaving each other around the flat. Over the last month, their relationship has become a full-blown friendship full of humor and warmth, but they communicate only through notes. She notices that she writes a lot more—and shares more personal details—than he does. Still, she knows a lot about him based on his notes and what he leaves behind in the flat.
One day, she returns from work early and wonders if she’ll see Leon for the first time. He is not home after all, but when the landline phone rings and she answers, she chats with Richie. Tiffy didn’t know that Leon had a brother, let alone a brother in prison. She and Richie talk for a while, and by the end of the call, they are friends. Richie wants Tiffy to tell Leon to share the whole story of why he’s in prison so that she can decide if she believes he’s innocent. He also tells Tiffy to look after Leon, which she thinks is strange since she’s never met him and he has a girlfriend who can look after him.
Part 3, Chapter 16 Summary: “Leon”
When Leon gets home, he sees the message that Tiffy left about Richie and laughs at how quickly Richie was able to charm his flatmate. Kay is with him and asks if Tiffy is single, joking that they could set her up with Richie. Leon doesn’t like the idea but doesn’t really know why.
Leon is still researching Johnny Whites for Mr. Prior. After a visit to the Imperial War Museum, he has narrowed it down to eight possible men. He decides to start by visiting the one near Birmingham, where Richie is.
Tiffy asks if Leon got her note about Richie because she has not heard about him since their phone call. Leon answers that he wants Richie to tell his story himself, so he will ask Richie to write Tiffy a letter to explain it all. He also mentions that he had an idea that maybe her author, Katherin, could hold an event at his hospice, St. Marks, because older people might be interested in crochet. Tiffy is excited about this idea because interest in Katherin is already building on social media: A Youtuber named Tasha Chai-Latte has posted some of Katherin’s creations on her social media channels, and they have gone viral.
Parts 2-3 Analysis
Through April and May, Tiffy and Leon accelerate their correspondence via Post-it notes, a mode of communication that facilitates and comes to symbolize their growing friendship. This device illustrates Building Trust and Intimacy Through Unconventional Means: They sleep in the same bed yet still have never met one another. Nonetheless, they get to know each other well, not only through the notes they leave for each other but also through observing and interpreting one another’s possessions and habits. For instance, Tiffy makes assumptions about Leon’s evening based on where she finds his favorite coffee mug, as he leaves it either “on his side of the sink, half drunk, which […] means he was pushed for time, or washed up on the draining board, which […] means he managed to get up with the alarm” (58). Through asynchronous communication and “reading” the ways they inhabit their shared space, they’ve developed a foundational understanding of one another.
Despite the contrasts in their personalities, Leon and Tiffy are both depicted as being compassionate and thoughtful, which is evident in the ways they both seek to help each other with practical matters—such as cooking and baking for one another—but also with their respective interpersonal issues. Tiffy displays an openness and acceptance toward Richie, juxtaposing her with Kay’s cool disinterest and growing annoyance. For his part, Leon gets Mr. Prior and his hospice facility involved in crocheting to support Katherin’s book, a growing source of stress for Tiffy. By highlighting their complementary strengths, the author increases the tension and foreshadows that their relationship will evolve into a partnership.
By this point, several characters have already begun hinting that Tiffy is a better match for Leon than Kay. After talking to Tiffy on the phone, Richie is immediately charmed by her, and at work, both Holly and Mr. Prior are curious about the woman with whom Leon is sharing his flat. All three of them imply that Kay is not right for Leon, and their enthusiasm about Tiffy suggests that perhaps she is. O’Leary provides a few scenes of Leon and Kay together to show the contrast between Kay and Tiffy; Tiffy is warm and compassionate, while Kay is more critical and judgmental. By the end of Part 3, the narrative leads readers toward a conclusion that Richie, Holly, and Mr. Prior have already seemed to settle on: Tiffy is a better match for Leon.
Thus far, no one in Tiffy’s life is particularly interested in Tiffy dating Leon, or for Mo and Gerty, anyone else, given The Long Process of Recovering from Emotional Abuse. Mo and Gerty remain protective of Tiffy and want her to proceed cautiously with all men, while Rachel—who doesn’t know the details of Justin’s treatment of her—is still encouraging Tiffy to try to get back together with Justin. Readers, however, now have a clearer picture of the damaging effects Justin has had on Tiffy, which is evident through her self-deprecating comments about her bad memory and how she often gets confused about directions when traveling, traits that Justin often criticized her for but that weren’t necessarily true, which is indicative of gaslighting. As a trusted friend and a mental health professional, Mo gently tries to point this out to Tiffy several times, but she is not quite ready to see that.
