The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

It is July 29, 2014, Addie’s first anniversary since meeting Henry. Although she has not seen Luc in 30 years, she fears that he will come today to ruin her happiness with Henry. Eager to reclaim the day for themselves, Henry convinces Addie to come with him to Rockaway Beach. At the end of the day, Henry says “I love you” for the first time, and Addie replies, “I love you too,” unsure if she means it.

On her 1928 anniversary, Addie hangs out at a Chicago speakeasy. She finds Luc, who claims it is a coincidence that they should meet in this bar, one of many he operates during the Prohibition Era. Luc tells Addie she belongs with him because she is no longer human. Although Addie denies this, the notion lingers and disturbs her.

After getting home from Rockaway Beach, Addie and Henry decide to nap for five minutes. They oversleep and wake up in the dark. Henry offers to leave, but Addie insists they enjoy the rest of their evening at the Merchant. As they dance together, the whole bar goes still, and Luc appears. Addie begs Luc to leave them alone, and he replies that he has no intention of tearing them apart. Time, he says ominously, will do that work for him.

Once he is gone, Addie asks Henry to tell her the truth about the conditions of his deal. He admits he only asked for a year before his life and soul would be forfeited. He only has 36 days left.

The narrative flashes back to September 4, 2013 to reveal the full story of Henry’s encounter with Luc. They do not meet on his stoop; they meet on the rooftop as Henry prepares to commit suicide. In this state of desperation, when Henry is willing to trade his soul for even a moment of peace, a year feels generous.

Furious at Luc, Addie leaves the bar and puts on the wooden ring. When Luc appears, Addie begs him to undo Henry’s deal. Luc says he will consider it if she will spend the following night with him and celebrate the anniversary properly. Although she knows Luc has no intention of altering Henry’s deal, Addie sees no other option.

In 1944, Addie returns to Nazi-occupied France to work as an unofficial spy for the French Resistance. Captured and thrown in a cell, Addie puts on the wooden ring for the first time to summon Luc. After denying any involvement with the rise of Hitler, Luc transports her back to the United States.

Against Henry’s protestations, Addie departs with Luc on the night of July 30.

In 1952 in Los Angeles, Luc interrupts Addie while she is on a date with a sculptor. He whisks her away to the Cicada Club to watch a performance by Frank Sinatra—another beneficiary/victim of Luc’s deals. As they dance, Luc kisses her, and Addie gives in to his seduction. He transports them to a hotel room, where they have sex.

Between 1952 and 1968, Addie and Luc engage in a sexual relationship. Sometimes they meet once every few months, while other times they are together for days on end. Although Addie no longer hates Luc, she knows she does not love him.

The night of July 30, 2014, Addie and Luc have dinner at a French restaurant, where the entire staff of servers are in Luc’s thrall. Addie tries to flatter him by saying how much she missed him. She says perhaps they do belong together. If he really loves her, she adds, he should let Henry go. Luc’s mood immediately sours upon hearing this.

In 1970 in New Orleans, Luc tells Addie he loves her for the first time. She replies, “Do not pretend that this is love” (403). Luc then gives her present: a brass key to her own home at the end of Bourbon Street.

Back in New York in 2014, Luc takes Addie on a secret elevator modeled after Rodin’s Gates of Hell to the top floor of an 84-story building. The elevator doors open, and they step into a bar full of senators, actors, and authors. When Addie pleads again with Luc to release Henry from the deal, Luc tells her to pick one of the strangers in the bar to damn instead. She reluctantly points to a man, but Luc only laughs: “My Adeline,” he says. “You have changed more than you think” (409).

In New Orleans on May 1, 1984, Addie’s sexual relationship with Luc ends. She realizes that their romantic coupling does not constitute peace; it is simply another battlefront in the war for her soul. Addie doesn’t remember who started the fire. She only knows that by the end of her fight with Luc, her New Orleans home has burned to the ground.

After the rooftop bar, Addie comes to in Central Park. Luc reveals that he placed Henry in her path so she would know what it is like to fall in love with a mortal, only to watch that person die while she stays young. When she accuses him of cruelty, Luc says it would have been much crueler had he allowed Henry to live 10 years rather than one—this way, Addie’s lesson is quicker and less painful. When she returns to Henry’s, she learns that it is August 6; Luc stole a precious week she could have spent with Henry.

August 2014 is the happiest month of Henry’s life. On a trip upstate, Henry asks Addie if “the moments of beauty [were] worth the years of pain” (418). She replies, “Always.”

A few days before the end, Henry asks Bea to work at The Last Word and Robbie to feed the cat while he is upstate visiting his parents for the weekend. He prefers to say goodbye this way, with no tears.

It is Henry’s last day, September 4, 2014. He and Addie spend much of it in bed, writing down more of her stories. 

Shortly before midnight, Addie and Henry embrace on the roof. Henry’s watch stops, and Addie tells him, “I haven’t told you how it ends” (424).

Three nights earlier, Addie sneaks out of Henry’s apartment while he is asleep. She puts on the wooden ring and renegotiates the terms of her deal with Luc. If he lets Henry live, she says, she will surrender—not her soul, which Luc does not want anymore anyway, but her heart; she will remain Luc’s partner as long as he wants her by his side. Luc agrees.

Addie tells Henry what she did. Her final words to him are, “You’ve given me so much, Henry. But I need you to do one more thing. I need you to remember” (429).

Henry wakes up alone in bed. He spends the next several hours reading every page of Addie’s story that they wrote in the journals.

A few months later, Bea reads a manuscript Henry penned titled The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. She loves everything about it except for the ending, which concludes without telling the reader what happened to Addie after she and Henry parted ways. Without knowing the ending himself, Henry refuses to make one up. Henry eventually gets the book published on the condition that his name does not appear on the cover; this is Addie’s story, not his.

At a London bookstore in 2016, Addie comes across a copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Inside, the dedication reads, “I remember you.” As she sits down to read the book, Luc arrives and throws his arms around her shoulders. He sees the book and says, “They can have the story. So long as I have you” (441).

Addie reflects on what a terrible mistake Luc made in agreeing to her deal. She did not agree to stay with him forever; she only agreed to stay as long as he wants her. It may take a century or more, but Addie is certain she can slowly drive him mad until he casts her away.