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Jenny Hill is the most mysterious character in the novel, and readers never really know if she is partly fact or entirely fiction. She is introduced as a young woman of twenty who lives alone in a shack in a swamp in Specter that she keeps meticulously clean and orderly. When Edward appears at her house, Jenny tries to refuse his offer to buy her place, saying, “I’m happy the way things are,” but like everyone else, she soon falls in love with Edward who carries her out of the swamp on his shoulders and moves her into a small, shuttered home in town.

Readers may wonder if Jenny Hill is simply a metaphor for Edward’s dreams. Like so much in Big Fish, readers cannot be sure. What is clear, however, is that Jenny changes sadly and tragically, and the story never returns to her or Specter after Edward leaves. Jenny has a period of happiness in which she participates in the life of the town and waits patiently for Edward’s visits, but it does not last. Hers is the most dramatic change in the novel’s characters. She is morose and shallow, her personality only reflected in Edward’s gaze. Although Jenny seems reclusive yet normal when Edward meets her, over time she changes into a ghoul who severs all ties with other people. The vines that overtake her house and garden represent the darkness that overtakes her heart and soul. Finally, she shuns even Edward, who must return home to Sandra and Will because he has lost Jenny forever.

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