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Conor’s Father
Conor’s best friend and classmate. Conor’s mother and Lily’s mother have been friends for a long time, and Conor and Lily grew up together. But at the beginning of the book, Conor is angry with Lily: when she found out about Conor’s mother’s diagnosis, she told a few friends, who quickly spread the news to the entire school and caused people to avoid him. This sequence of events makes Conor frustrated with her, to the point where he gets her into trouble while she was trying to save Conor from being bullied by Harry. This, in turn, makes Lily angry with Conor, which causes Conor to feel even more isolated. But when Lily sees Conor beat up Harry, she starts to realize how hurt Conor is from being made to feel invisible. She reaches out to him with a note in class, telling him that she “sees” him and that she misses being his friend. This is incredibly touching to Conor, and proves Ness’s argument regarding Conor’s isolation: that even though other students are avoiding Conor in an effort to be sensitive to him, it is really everyone’s responsibility to know when someone is hurting and to reach out and support that person, as Lily does.
Lily Andrews Quotes in A Monster Calls
The A Monster Calls quotes below are all either spoken by Lily Andrews or refer to Lily Andrews. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Understanding Quotes
Those friends told a few more, who told a few more, and before the day was half through, it was like a circle had opened around him, a dead area with Conor at the center, surrounded by land mines that everyone was afraid to walk through.
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The Third Tale Quotes
Harry leaned forward, his eyes flashing. “I see nothing,” he said. Without turning around, Conor asked the monster a question. “What did you do to help the invisible man?”
And he felt the monster’s voice again, like it was in his own head.
I made them see, it said.
Conor clenched his fists even tighter.
Then the monster leapt forward to make Harry see.
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Punishment Quotes
There are worse things than being invisible, the monster had said, and it was right.
Conor was no longer invisible. They all saw him now. But he was further away than ever.
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A Note Quotes
I’m sorry for telling everyone about your mum, read the first line.
I miss being your friend, read the second.
Are you okay? read the third.
I see you, read the fourth, with the I underlined about a hundred times.
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Lily Andrews Character Timeline in A Monster Calls
The timeline below shows where the character Lily Andrews appears in A Monster Calls. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
School
...to get up off of the ground, when he sees a girl in his class, Lily Andrews, coming over. She tells Harry, Anton, and Sully to leave Conor alone. They make...
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Their teacher, Miss Kwan, storms over, scolding Lily. Lily says that Sully was making fun of Conor’s mother. Everyone freezes, and Conor is...
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Life Writing
Conor walks home after avoiding Harry the rest of the day. He also avoided Lily, who was very upset when she returned to class. In English class, Mrs. Marl gave...
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As Conor walks, Lily calls after him and confronts him, asking why he lied and got her into trouble....
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Conor has known Lily “for as long as he [can] remember.” Their mothers had been friends before the two...
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Grandma
...and grandmother. His grandma asks how school was, and he says it was fine—even though Lily was still fuming, Harry was still bullying him, and Miss Kwan had pulled him aside...
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Understanding
Lily catches Conor on his walk, saying that she forgives him for lying and getting her...
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It was just over a year ago that Lily had told a few friends about Conor’s mother’s diagnosis, and the news had quickly spread...
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...treated him “like he was the one who was ill.” And so he now blames Lily, because there’s no one else to blame.
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...knee. Anton and Sully continue to make fun of Conor. When Conor stands, he spots Lily leaning against the school wall, watching him before walking away. The school bell rings, indicating...
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Invisible
Conor is standing in the schoolyard. He tries to catch Lily’s eye but she doesn’t look over at him, “as if she could no longer see...
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A Note
...lungs, and her pain has gotten worse, too. Conor spends hours wandering around the hospital. Lily and her mother come to visit on the weekend as well, but he makes sure...
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The next day, in English class, Lily passes Conor a note. In the note, she apologizes for telling everyone about his mother,...
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