A Family Matter

This section establishes the narrative pattern of the novel, in which each part takes place in a different time period, alternating from 2022 (and later, early 2023) and 1982 (and later, early 1983). Part 1 is set in July and August 2002 and the same months in 1982. It introduces all the major characters and hints at some of the themes that will be developed later. The novel operates like a jigsaw puzzle in which each chapter reveals small parts of the whole, and the interlocking structure and meaning behind the narrative events emerge slowly. For example, the episode in Chapter 1 in which Heron steps into the freezer at the supermarket after being told that he has a terminal illness is significant because it symbolizes his refusal to face facts, something that won’t be made clear until later in the novel. This hints at his tendency to hide from pain and pretend that change can be avoided, which will become important as the full story of his family begins to unfold. 

There is also an embedded irony in the fact that Heron calls his daughter every night, telling her all the small details of his day. Maggie only half-listens, but “she didn’t mind that her dad told her everything; it had always been like that” (8). Actually, Heron omits the hospital visit, in which he was told he had a terminal illness, and the incident at the supermarket. He is clearly selective in what he tells his daughter, and this will become a major theme of the novel, since he has told Maggie nothing of the events that led to the departure of his wife Dawn when Maggie was just three years old. It therefore becomes gradually more noticeable that Heron likes to keep everything under firm control, which is also seen in his attitude to domestic tasks such as cleaning—he draws up a schedule for cleaning the house and tapes an inventory to the door of the freezer so that he always knows what is in there. He has done this for decades, demonstrating his need for control, consistency, and predictability. 

Maggie doesn’t demonstrate similar traits, though, and her life with her husband and two children is presented as very “normal.” She and her husband Conor are happy together, and her only current conflict is a common level of tension between them and their son Tom. At 14, he begins to assert his own individuality, wanting a “life that is bigger, or sharper, than his parents” (22). This is a dynamic that encourages Maggie to reflect on her own life and her relationship with her own family, but it hasn’t yet caused major conflict within the narrative.

The parts set in 1982 are at this point mostly unconnected to the 2022 scenes, since Heron is not mentioned by name and Maggie appears only briefly. It is a different era with two different characters. The two young women—Dawn and Hazel—are from different social worlds. Dawn has lived in the village all her life and is married with a daughter, whereas Hazel is single. Hazel is rather higher in social class and “a bit posh” (16), Dawn thinks, based on how Hazel speaks, and she is certainly more bold and outgoing than Dawn. These differences create a sense of intrigue for her, as Hazel represents a life with which Dawn is completely unfamiliar; Hazel’s increased worldliness and experience with more cosmopolitan city life, in part, implicitly explain why she’s more conscious of queer experiences than Dawn, who’s very sheltered. Ultimately, Hazel represents everything Dawn has never had.

From the outset, there are subtle clues that suggest the attraction that Dawn feels toward Hazel. She often catches sight of Hazel in the village, but more than that, Dawn’s new acquaintance already seems to occupy a deep place in Dawn’s imagination: “Shadows and suggestions of Hazel everywhere Dawn went. There were glimpses of Hazel behind her eyelids when she blinked” (33). Not yet aware of the impact Hazel will have on her life, Dawn convinces herself that she sees Hazel everywhere “[b]ecause she really admired her haircut” (33). It is clear, however, that it runs much deeper than that. Hazel makes Dawn nervous, stirring up her emotions in a way that has never happened before. This introduces the theme of The Hidden Complexities of Seemingly Ordinary Lives. Hazel is able to bring Dawn out of herself; Dawn “talked more that summer than she had in the rest of her life put together” (37). The tension building between them crests when they eventually share a kiss, the first moment during which Dawn gives into feelings that she’s been avoiding and an action that will guide the entirety of the narrative.