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Ethan Mack
Daphne is Cameron’s estranged mother and Aunt Jeanne’s younger sister. Though she never appears in the novel, the mystery surrounding her life and disappearance is one of the story’s driving forces. When Cameron was nine, Daphne left him with Jeanne, believing her severe struggles with addiction made her unfit to be a mother. As an adult, Cameron doesn’t have any way of knowing whether Daphne is still alive. He searches for his father instead, mistakenly believing it to be Simon Brinks, Daphne’s high school best friend. When they finally meet, Simon tells Cameron that Daphne was always much smarter and more ambitious than people realized, dreaming of competing on Jeopardy! and opening a speakeasy with her winnings. Ultimately, Cameron learns that Daphne was Erik’s girlfriend at the time of Erik’s death—and that Erik, not Simon, is Cameron’s father. With Avery’s encouragement, Cameron eventually softens his resentment toward his mother, coming to understand that her decision to leave him may have been, paradoxically, an act of love.
Daphne Cassmore Quotes in Remarkably Bright Creatures
The Remarkably Bright Creatures quotes below are all either spoken by Daphne Cassmore or refer to Daphne Cassmore. 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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Chapter 6 Quotes
He’s sure his mother was clean when he was born. He’s seen the photos, her hair in soft brown curls as she pushes him on a baby swing at the park. The using, the problems, Cameron is sure, came after.
Came because of him.
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Chapter 39 Quotes
“That must have been really hard for your mother.”
“Hard for her?”
“To leave, I mean. To leave you with someone who could do better.”
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Chapter 50 Quotes
He’s hardly said two words to Ethan since their argument. All that garbage Ethan’s apparently been spreading around town . . . it doesn’t even make sense. Something about a bad check. From a thousand years ago. Like Cameron needs any reminding that his mother was a loser.
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Chapter 62 Quotes
An accident. It could have happened that way, or any number of ways. Captain of the crew team, an accomplished sailor, but there was that stolen beer. There was a girl.
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Daphne Cassmore Character Timeline in Remarkably Bright Creatures
The timeline below shows where the character Daphne Cassmore appears in Remarkably Bright Creatures. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
...she’s clung to for years. But she wasn’t always like this. When Cameron’s drug-addicted mother, Daphne, abandoned him at age nine—and without his absent father in the picture—Aunt Jeanne took him...
(full context)
Chapter 17
...junk—used lipstick, old school essays, concert stubs—until he comes across a photo of a teenage Daphne hugging an unknown boy, and a class ring engraved with “Sowell Bay High School, Class...
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Chapter 22
...Washington. Cameron had already looked this up, but Al then shares something Cameron didn’t know: Daphne once ran away during high school and ended up in Sowell Bay, and Jeanne had...
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Chapter 24
At the Seattle airport, Cameron waits for his duffel bag, which holds all of Daphne’s old jewelry—except for the class ring in his pocket. Another man around his age, also...
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Chapter 39
...most: as a mother, she says, leaving a child is nearly impossible—it must have killed Daphne to walk away from her son. Though others have said this before, it lands differently...
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Chapter 41
...to let her supervise part-time while her ankle heals—and the conversation turns to Cameron’s mother (Daphne) and Aunt Jeanne. When Tova asks about Jeanne, Cameron jokes that Tova wouldn’t like her,...
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Chapter 43
...to say anything, but she felt Tova deserved to know. Her name, she says, was Daphne. Tova thanks her sincerely, pays, and hurries home, where she quickly pulls out Erik’s old...
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Chapter 46
...anyone who’d tried to scam him, and one of those checks had belonged to a Daphne Cassmore. Ethan had taken the whole display down right away—not his style—but he never forgot...
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Using his ancestry website subscription, Ethan quickly confirms that Daphne Cassmore, later Daphne Scott, is the half-sister of Jeanne Baker—Cameron’s aunt. He’d overheard Sandy mention...
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Chapter 47
...bluntly, she adds that Simon Brinks isn’t his father. If he had been, she says, Daphne would’ve bled him dry for child support a long time ago. Before hanging up, she...
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Chapter 48
...But the moment is lost, and Tova leaves before he can tell her anything about Daphne Cassmore.
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Chapter 50
...quiet and still. Then, slowly, she asks what his mother’s name is. When he says “Daphne,” her breath catches. Daphne Cassmore—Erik’s girl. Tova tells Cameron the story of Erik’s disappearance, and...
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...apologize to Ethan. He regrets how defensive he got, unwilling to hear Ethan out about Daphne. But Ethan’s already asleep. Cameron gets a text from Avery—they make plans to go paddleboarding...
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Chapter 51
...be too big a coincidence, too convenient, and she doesn’t believe in luck. Anyway, if Daphne truly had Erik’s child, wouldn’t she have gotten in touch with Tova? As Cat curls...
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Chapter 52
...bring Erik’s yearbook with her to Charter Village, though she tells herself the mystery of Daphne belongs in the past. Still, she knows she’ll never stop scanning crowds for a glimpse...
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Chapter 54
...to meet here—rather than at of his other properties—because he built this speakeasy, Mudminnow, for Daphne. He mentions the girl with green hair is his daughter, Natalie, and for a brief...
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...and returns with the 1989 Sowell Bay High School yearbook. He explains that he and Daphne grew close while living in the same run-down apartment complex during high school. They used...
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Simon remarks that Cameron reminds him of Daphne—both are much smarter than people give them credit for. He tells Cameron that Daphne once...
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Chapter 61
As the truth settles in—Erik and Daphne had a child, the child grew up far away, and that child is Cameron, Tova’s...
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Chapter 62
...sailboat. It could’ve been a freak accident, not something intentional. And maybe the woman was Daphne. Avery wonders aloud whether she made a difference that day, and Tova assures her she...
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