Pippa Cross
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Pippa "Pip" Cross (c. 1878- September 1895) is one of the main characters in A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and, presumably, the as-yet-unpublished The Sweet Far Thing, all by Libba Bray.
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[edit] Name
Pippa's first name means "lover of horses".[1] While it may have been short for Philippa, this is never stated in any of the novels. Pippa is not a very widely-used name and, though it comes from the Greek language, is predominantly an English name.[2] Pippa's surname, Cross, refers to a a place where to roads intersect, or where a cross could be erected-- also, often at a crossroads.[3] This may refer to how torn Pippa is, between her duty (marriage) and desire (freedom to find true love). Later, after her death, Pippa will also fear to "cross over," from the Realms, into where-ever the dead go.
[edit] Beauty
Pippa is one of the most beautiful women in Libba Bray's alternate world. She has violet eyes, dark hair (sometimes said to be brown; sometimes, black), and "an ivory face that could be from a cameo pin".
In Pippa's own words, "Being beautiful creates problems. It's misery."
[edit] Childhood
Pippa, like Felicity and Ann, did not have a happy childhood. Because of her good looks, "everyone [wanted] to own" Pippa, "constantly fussing over [her] so there [was] no room to breathe."
Pippa suffered from epilepsy, a fact that her mother insisted Pippa hide. If anyone knew that Pippa was not perfectly healthy, she would be unlikely to marry well. Pippa's mother told her that if she felt a fit "coming on," Pippa was to say that she had "a headache and excuse [herself]"-- something that, of course, would not be possible.
[edit] Education
From a young age, probably about age seven, Pippa attended Spence Academy. Though she was easily the most beautiful-looking girl at the school, and one of the most popular, she did not stand-out for her wit. "I'm not clever like you are," Pippa once tells Ann. "I don't mean half of what I say."
[edit] Engagement
On the September Assembly Day of 1895, Pippa became engaged to Mr Bartleby Bumble, Esquire. It was not a happy occasion for Pippa. Bumble saw Pippa as a possession to be owned. She has been, as Gemma sees it, "sold to the highest bidder." But the Cross family think that Pippa must marry to "save [them] from ruin".
Pippa is able to break off her engagement by telling Bumble of her illness. Knowing that Pippa has epilepsy, Bumble sees Pippa as a "fine piece of china" that he has purchased which has a very bad crack. Bumble is relieved and makes his escape.
[edit] Death
In late September of 1895, Pippa Cross died after having an epileptic fit.
Pippa had always loved the Realms. Though Gemma told her that they were "not a place to stay," being only a "place of dreams," Pip merely asked what would happen if she "[chose] the dream instead?" In the end, this is what Pippa did. Faced with a miserable arranged marriage to a man whom she did not love, Pippa chose to stay in the Realms. As consequence, Pippa's body, back at Spence, died. She could never go back.
[edit] After Death
After death, Pippa stayed in the Realms for two months. At first she was fine; however when Gemma binds the magic, her soul becomes corrupted. She is told that she must cross over in order to save her soul. Instead of doing as she is told, she runs away to the Winterlands, where it is presumed she is corrupted for good.
[edit] Family and Friends
- Felicity Worthington is Pippa's best friend. They knew each other from the time that they were very young. Pippa was the only person whom Felicity told the truth about her mother.
- Gemma Doyle is also one of Pippa's friends, though Pippa resents the fact that Gemma replaced Pippa as Fee's closest confident.
- Ann Bradshaw is also one of Pippa's friends at Spence. Ann had been at Spence for as long as Pippa, but did not become Pippa and Felicity's friends, until Gemma arrived.
- Mr Cross is Pippa's father. It is because of his "gambling debts" that Pippa must marry a rich man. It is from her father that Pippa inherited her "dark coloring".
- Mrs Cross is Pippa's mother. "Pippa's mother is as beautiful as as her daughter, but her face is harder, a fact she's tried to hide with plenty of jewels."
- Bartleby Bumble, Esq., "a rude old man with [a] fat face," is Pippa's fiancé. He is fifty, older than Pippa's own father, and sees her as "the biggest prize on display" in the carnival that is their lives.
