53 pages • 1 hour read
Tessa BaileyFangirl Down
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Redeeming Power of Love
Josephine Doyle and Wells Whitaker’s unlikely romantic entanglement teaches both characters the redeeming power of love. When Josephine and Wells first begin working together, they have no intention of becoming involved. Their golfer-caddie arrangement is meant as an avenue to success for Wells and as a way for Josephine to recover the money she needs to resurrect her family’s pro shop. Prior to working together, their arrangement isn’t personal either: They are “athlete and number one fan” (9). However, once Josephine and Wells begin to spend time in one another’s company, they discover their strong connection.
Their mutual attraction to one another in turn shepherds each of them through a series of challenges that they ultimately overcome with one another’s love and support. “[S]pending hours upon hours upon days” (70) with one another grants Josephine and Wells access to one another’s hearts. Once they begin to share their vulnerabilities with each other, they deepen their connection. In turn, the two protagonists learn that investing in a mutual, loving relationship has transformative capacities for each of them.
Over the course of the novel, Josephine and Wells grow and change because of their powerful impact on one another’s lives. As a gruff, antisocial character, Wells is caught off-guard by Josephine’s brightness, buoyancy, “energy and spirit” (286). Her strength and empathy motivate him to amend his callous behaviors and to put aside his selfish desires. Meanwhile, Wells’s “ability to adapt and grow, his thoughtfulness, the way he care[s] about [Josephine] without making her feel cared for” (296) grants Josephine a new silent strength and power: She feels that she can rely on him without giving up her independence.
In these ways, Josephine’s and Wells’s contrasting personalities and sensibilities complement one another. Together, they balance one another out and are stronger for their connection. Their tight, loving bond gives both characters the courage to follow their respective dreams and to believe in themselves. For Josephine, this means returning to Palm Beach to complete the renovations on the Golden Tee pro shop, while for Wells, this means competing in the Masters on his own.
Even when apart, Josephine and Wells carry one another in their hearts and feel capable of accomplishing their goals and living with grace and spirit. The novel uses these facets of their relationship to illustrate the ways in which reciprocal, healthy relationships might deliver an individual from difficult times and help make them a better person.
The Importance of Encouragement and Support
The novel uses Josephine and Wells’s dynamic to convey the transformative, stabilizing capacities of mutual relationships. Josephine and Wells become lovers as well as partners during the golf tournament. Their romance is built upon uplifting one another as they navigate life’s challenges, thereby illustrating the importance of encouragement and support.
Throughout their time on the golf course, Wells discovers how important it is to have “just one person on [his] side” (277). Throughout his childhood, adolescence, and adult life, Wells has felt abandoned and overlooked. The sudden disappearances of various important people from his life have “taught [him] that people come and go” (277). As a result of these disappointed connections, Wells convinces himself that he doesn’t need anyone or “owe anyone explanations” (115).
However, Josephine’s loyalty and constancy quickly teach him otherwise. She not only doesn’t give up on him as a fan but stays by his side throughout the PGA tournament. Whenever he feels overwhelmed or stuck, Josephine lends him advice and encouragement. Josephine’s presence therefore stabilizes and empowers Wells, soon convincing him that there is “no one else who ha[s] Josephine’s magic” (282). What Josephine has taught him is that with the support of a loved one, he can do anything. Wells rediscovers who he is and feels suddenly capable of defining what he wants and pursuing his dreams without fear.
Wells’s character similarly enriches Josephine’s life and teaches her that she doesn’t have to face all of life’s trials on her own. Ever since Josephine can remember, she has been treated as if she’s fragile and incapable. Due to her type 1 diabetes, her “parents were really protective when [she] was growing up” and didn’t make her feel like she “could live a normal, happy life like everyone else” (137). In an attempt to prove them wrong, Josephine has spent her adulthood taking on as many responsibilities as she can without ever asking for help.
Once she becomes close with Wells, Josephine realizes that if she wants him to trust her and take her support, she has to do the same for him. Telling him about her diabetes and inviting him to follow her on the app is Josephine’s way of letting Wells support her—something he manages to do without disempowering her. She in turn discovers that with Wells on her side, she doesn’t have to lose her independence. Rather, she is more capable because of his commitment and devotion. In these ways, the novel underscores how affirming relationships grant an individual the strength to overcome life’s challenges.
Journey Toward Fulfillment and Personal Growth
Josephine’s and Wells’s intersecting storylines trace their respective journeys toward fulfillment and personal growth. At the novel’s start, Josephine only knows Wells as her favorite professional golfer and Wells only knows Josephine as his unfailing fangirl. They occupy different worlds and have different ideas about who they are and what they want.
Josephine has spent her whole life dreaming about taking over her family’s pro shop. She particularly has “aspirations to change” the shop’s dated aesthetic and capacities, and to add a “putting green out front, more on-trend merchandise, [and] a beverage bar” (21). However, this dream seems impossible as soon as Hurricane Jake destroys her family’s business. Meanwhile, Wells has dreamed of being a professional golfer ever since Buck Lee became his coach and mentor. He had some success for a time, but his recent inability to play well has squashed his dreams and complicated how he seems himself. Both Josephine and Wells have thus lost their sense of a defined future at the novel’s start. They are at a crossroads and need to make changes to develop as individuals and to redefine what contentment and fulfillment mean to them.
The time that Josephine and Wells spend competing in the PGA tournament ushers the characters toward growth and change. The tour also helps them redefine what they want for themselves and what makes them happy. Their intense love for one another causes them to wonder if they can face their individual challenges alone. When Josephine returns home to open the pro shop, for example, Wells is left wondering if he can “even compete without Josephine” (282). At the same time, Wells doesn’t want his dreams to get in the way of Josephine’s future. His decision to fire Josephine so she can return home to Palm Beach evidences his newfound capacity for selflessness and empathy. Meanwhile, Josephine’s ability to accept help from her parents so she can see Wells compete at the end of the Masters reflects her personal growth. Together and apart, Josephine and Wells have learned that they make each other stronger but that they can’t let their relationship inhibit their individual needs, desires, and dreams.
Josephine and Wells act as one another’s guides throughout the novel. They are journeying through life together and learning what it means to have an equal partner amidst life’s challenges and joys. The novel uses their relationship to explore the ways individual identities and goals can gradually evolve over time.
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