Clare Wald Quotes

Clare Wald, a main character in Absolution, while as “duplicitous and self-serving” as she appears to be; is also haunted by her “own sense of guilt and complicity in evil acts.” The manifestations of Clare Wald’s guilt and the manner in which she seeks absolution for her perceived crimes will be discussed with close reference to the novel.

During interviews with her biographer, Sam Leroux, Clare Wald seems adamant that she will “absolutely not talk about [her] sister”. This may be attributed to the circumstances under which Nora and her brother-in law, Stephan Pretorius, were assassinated. An act for which Clare believes she is responsible considering that she “knew the delicacy of the information [she] held” about their location, but “chose to forget”, whilst in the presence of a “man…rumoured to be involved with MK”. Completely burdened by the realisation “to feel in the aftermath, no remorse”; Clare Wald’s guilt manifests itself in unrelenting insomnia, appearances of Nora’s ghost and “troubling…dreams”.
However, these “recurring dreams” are not limited to those of Nora, but also of Clare’s daughter, Laura Wald. An enigmatic character whose disappearance torments Clare as she grapples with

In this book-within-a-book; Clare asks her son, Mark Wald, to “tell [her] if what [she] did deserves amnesty” as she herself is uncertain of “the exact circumstance [her] betrayal” of Nora, but he simply refutes her justifications, failing to grant her amnesty. As she is aware that she is “short of the dead granting [her] forgiveness”; Clare also makes “a resolution to find Stephan’s family”, thus showing how desperate she is to be exonerated. In addition, the Clare narrative, in the form of a letter to Laura, is a form of “self-exorcism” – Clare’s offer of “penance” and request for Laura’s