Summary "Tulip Touch"

The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine
The novel tells the story of Natalie Barnes and Tulip Pierce. It is set over a
number of years, from when Natalie moves into the Palace Hotel as a young
girl, and as she grows older and matures into her teenage years. It is in
three parts reflecting the three distinct stages of the relationship between
Natalie and Tulip and shows that goodwill is essential topositive and
constructive relationships.
Part 1 describes how they first meet and become good friends
Part 2 describes how things start to go wrong in the relationship
Part 3 Natalie ‘frees’ herself of Tulip
Meaning of the title:
The Tulip Touch
literally means how Tulip has ‘touched’ the lives of the other
characters
the tiny detail that made you wonder if she might just for once betelling the truth (p25)
‘No-one is born evil’
Was Tulip born bad or was she made that way by her upbringing?
The story is told from Natalie’s point of view (first person narrator)
therefore the friendship is biased toward her perception and experience of
events and she interprets other character’s points of view.
Her tone is reminiscent (she is looking back over events) so the reader ismore likely to trust her judgement as she is not reacting to things as they
actually happen.
Setting
The story is set in the wonderful surroundings of the Palace Hotel which
underline the theme of a dark and sometimes frightening friendship. The
hotel is symbolic as it is a place of short visits (people do not stay long) and
this reflects that Natalie and Tulip’s friendship will not last long.Also as the
story develops, the hotel becomes dated and fails to keep up with
modernisation which reflects the changes in Natalie and Tulip’s relationship
as they get older.
2
The grandeur of the Palace Hotel contrasts directly with the description of
Tulip’s home. ‘stained carpets, battered furniture’ her father drank from a
‘cracked cup’
. In her bedroom ‘stained sheet spread across achair to dry’ Tulip seemed
different there ‘just a shell’. In the back yard there were ‘weeds waist high’
and ‘smashed bottles’. (21)
Characters:
Natalie Barnes first meets Tulip in the cornfield and is drawn to her at
school where N is new and is shunned by other children.
‘faceless & non-descript’
55) ‘back then I never thought to wonder what is was T saw in me but now I
think couldsome small part of it have been that if she could keep someone
as faceless and non-descript as me as her friend than it really couldn’t prove
so much that everyone else hated her? And hate her they did because she
spoiled everything.
has a conscience
77) ‘it is not Julius’ fault he is the apple of mother’s eye’ shows N’s
character
80) ‘spiteful’ games-N felt bad. T just laughed
81) Nsays ‘I only stopped her twice. Once when she started with the milk
bottle smashing. And another time when she took someone’s rabbit out of its
hutch.’
94) ‘I confiscated her rude Christmas cards one by one as she finished them’
77) ‘it is not Julius’ fault he is the apple of mother’s eye’
168) ‘ I shall feel sorry for Tulip all my life. And guilty, too. Guilty’
is she as good as she seems?94) ‘I needed Tulip…Tulip lived my secret life.’ ‘I was secretly swearing as
foully as she did’.. etc ‘I was as bad as she was’
139) Mrs B ‘Honestly, I don’t know what Natalie ever saw in Tulip Pierce’
Policeman replies, ‘Perhaps, Mrs Barnes, it’s time to start wondering just
what it was that Tulip saw in Natalie?’
126) ‘she had kept me down with contempt and scorn’
‘it was my turn to feelcontempt’ ‘you’re nothing Tulip, nothing’
Tulip Pierce lives on farm, an only child.
clever 27) ‘miles cleverer that me’
plausible liar 48) ‘she had a way of making people believe her’
3
badly behaved disruptive in class (27), always doing stupid things (53)
cruel & spiteful
Tulip is nasty to Natalie and other children, as well as adults and animals.
She invents ‘games’ to...