History Literature / Cookie

* DomesticAbuse: Gerry is abusive towards Dilly, though he is largely emotionally abusive rather than physically abusive (though he does slap his wife's face and roughly grabs her by the arm on one occasion). His horrible behaviour is presented as no less damaging, though, despite Auntie Avril downplaying it when Dilly tries to explain what has been happening. Gerry is extremely controlling of Dilly and he frequently mocks and insults her for being "stupid" or "useless", with Dilly having begun believing he's right. He throws screaming fits if she tries to stand up to him, often throwing it in her face that he provides for her as if that gives the right to treat her like dirt (the aforementioned slap was prompted when Dilly refused his demand to put on a diamond necklace, then claimed she'd lost it). Beauty points out that she's only dependent on him because [[FinancialAbuse he made her give up her job and she has to ask him for spending money]]. Gerry constantly belittles Dilly's attempts at cookie baking and smashes up the cookies she had made for Beauty's birthday party, insisting they're rubbish without even trying one.

* DomesticAbuse: Gerry is abusive towards Dilly, though he is largely emotionally abusive rather than physically abusive (though he does slap his wife's face and roughly grabs her by the arm on one occasion). His horrible behaviour is presented as no less damaging, though, despite Auntie Avril downplaying it when Dilly tries to explain what has been happening. Gerry is extremely controlling of Dilly, with it being mentioned several times that Gerry doesn't "let" Dilly do things like get a job or go to art galleries. He frequently mocks and insults her for being "stupid" or "useless", with Dilly having begun believing he's right. He throws screaming fits if she tries to stand up to him, often throwing it in her face that he provides for her as if that gives the right to treat her like dirt (the aforementioned slap was prompted when Dilly refused his demand to put on a diamond necklace, then claimed she'd lost it). Beauty points out that she's dependent on him because he made her give up her job when they got married and she has to ask him for spending money. Gerry constantly belittles Dilly's attempts at cookie baking and smashes up the cookies she had made for Beauty's birthday party, insisting they're rubbish without even trying one.

* DomesticAbuse: Gerry is abusive towards Dilly, though he is largely emotionally abusive, rather than physically abusive (though he does slap his wife’s face and grabs her by the arm on one occasion). His horrible behaviour is presented as no less damaging, though, despite Auntie Avril downplaying it when Dilly tries to explain what has been happening.

[[caption-width-right:350:That hand crushing the bunny cookie is a good warning that this book is a lot more depressing than it's cover suggests.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: Arabella's mother comes across as a bit patronising but obviously notices Dilly's embarrassment when Gerry tells her to "quit burbling" and tries to smooth it over.

* HonoraryAunt: Avril is this to Beauty. She refers to her as "Auntie Avril" and mentions she always buys her good birthday gifts. [[spoiler: She also lets Beauty and Dilly stay at her house temporarily after they leave Gerry]].

* SerialSpouse: Gerry has been married three times. He divorced his first wife Avril to marry his second wife Ashleigh, then divorced her to marry his third and current wife Dilly.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Mike develops this with Dilly and Beauty.

* KidsAreCruel: Skye and her cronies, who constantly bully Beauty, even on her birthday.

* NiceGuy: Mike, Sam, Rhona, Miranda and Angela.

* PerkyGoth: Angela seems to be this.

* RichJerk: Skye and Gerry.

* SelfMadeMan: Gerry was this. He tends to use his "hard work" as an excuse to treat his wife and daughter like crap and accuse them of being "ungrateful" if they do something he doesn't like. In the end [[spoiler: Dilly is on her way to becoming a SelfMadeWoman]].

* SmarterThanYouLook: Dilly is not as academically gifted as Beauty, and Gerry calls her a fool on an almost daily basis. However, just as it is made clear that Beauty is not ugly, it is similarly established that Dilly is ''not'' "stupid".

* UglyGuyHotWife: Gerry insists on invoking this trope with Dilly, but his actions border on DomesticAbuse.

* AbusiveParents: Gerry is a terrible father to Beauty, constantly putting her down and trying to control her. It’s implied that Dilly’s mother wasn’t particularly nice to her either.
* AffectionateNickname: Dilly (which she prefers over [[EmbarrassingFirstName Dilys]]). Cookie or Cookie Girl for Beauty Cookson.

* BetaBitch: Emily and Arabella to Skye.

* BrattyHalfPint: Skye and her GirlPosse have shades of this.
* CallingTheOldManOut: After learning her father [[spoiler: let her pet rabbit out, resulting in its CruelAndUnusualDeath]], Beauty pushes him away when he tries to hug her and tearfully yells “[[PrecisionFStrike I bloody hate you!]]” Gerry subsequently threatens to wash her mouth out with soap.

* CoolBigSis: Angela acts as one to Beauty.
* CoolOldGuy: Mike (though he’s implied to be more middle-aged than really elderly), for being very kind and understanding to Beauty and Dilly, giving out good advice and life lessons, giving [[spoiler: Dilly]] a job despite her relative lack of experience and being nothing but supportive and encouraging of her even when she screws up, and calmly standing up to [[spoiler: Gerry]] when he tries to [[spoiler: force Dilly and Beauty to come home]], even when [[spoiler: Gerry]] punches him in the nose.

* DomesticAbuse: Gerry, though he is emotionally abusive, rather than physically abusive (though he does slap his wife’s face and grabs her by the arm on one occasion). His horrible behaviour is no less damaging, though.
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Gerry. A particularly outrageous example is when [[spoiler: he believes Dilly left him because she thought he was going to lose all his money. You know, as opposed to subjecting her and their daughter to years of abuse and humiliation]].

* FatBastard: Gerry. Inverted with [[BigFun Mike and Simon]].
* FoodPorn: The descriptions of the food, especially the cookies, and the accompanying illustrations by Nick Sharratt, make you wish you could try them yourself.
* GirlPosse: Skye has one, all of whom join in with her mockery of Beauty. A notable exception is her proclaimed best friend Rhona, who is always kind to Beauty.
* GoodParents: Dilly, in sharp contrast to Gerry, is a very good mother to Beauty. She is constantly kind and supportive of her and does her best to make her safe and happy. Rhona’s mother and father seem to be pretty great parents, too.

* AnimalMotif: Rabbits. Beauty's favourite animal is the rabbit; her favourite television show is called ''[[ShowWithinAShow Sam and Lily in the Rabbit Hutch]]'', she often includes rabbits in her art and dreams of owning one herself. In fact, Beauty asking her dad if she could have a pet one early in the story gives us the first glimpse of [[AbusiveParent what Gerry is like]] when he goes on [[RantInducingSlight a rant at her]]. Later, Gerry [[spoiler: being indirectly (or [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation possibly directly]]) responsible for the death of Beauty's rabbit Birthday]] proves to be the event that [[spoiler: leads to Beauty and Dilly leaving him]]. Beauty and Dilly visit a seaside town called Rabbit Cove, which (you guessed it) has cliffs shaped like a rabbit's ears [[spoiler: and like it so much they decide to stay]]. In the end, Dilly begins making cookies shaped like rabbits, which prove to be extremely popular [[spoiler: to the point where Beauty is invited onto a TV show to make the cookies and possibly advertise them in the hopes of turning it into a legitimate business]].

* RantInducingSlight: Pretty much anything can be this for Gerry. He first gets set off by Beauty merely asking if she’d be allowed to get a pet rabbit for her birthday.

* MamaBear: Over the course of the story, Dilly develops the courage to stand up to Gerry and defend Beauty from his verbal and emotional abuse.

* GrewASpine: Dilly initially submits to Gerry and tries to please him, but she eventually [[CharacterDevelopment begins standing up for herself]].

* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Dilly is blonde and very attractive. Apparently, Gerry [[HasAType has a thing for blondes]], as his ex-wife at one point asks Dilly if he left for "another little blonde".
* TheDogBitesBack: Dilly initially submits to Gerry and tries to please him, but she eventually [[CharacterDevelopment begins standing up for herself]].

* FoodPorn: Though not as detailed as other works, the descriptions of the food, especially the cookies, and the accompanying illustrations by Nick Sharratt, make you wish you could try them yourself.
* GirlPosse: Skye has one.