Finding Grace

“But it was like I was trapped inside a snow globe that nobody was shaking. All I could think about was life back home. I kept hearing the doctor’s voice in my head telling me the exact thickness of our surrogate Jess’s uterine lining and wondering if she’d been taking enough folic acid in preparation for the embryo transfer.”

Honor Wharton’s preoccupation with having a second child creates turmoil in her marriage with Tom Wharton. The image of being caught in a snow globe “nobody is shaking” is a metaphor that evokes notions of dizziness and powerlessness. Honor is consumed by her longing for another baby and struggles to remain engaged in her present life as a result. Her internal unrest creates distance between her, Tom, and Chloe Wharton, which affects an agitated narrative mood at the novel’s start.

“But it wasn’t our home anymore. Chloe’s train set wasn’t out to trip over, and her laughter wasn’t echoing. There wasn’t a wand to pick up in her wake, or a Disney film to negotiate. Tom opened the door to the drawing room. The brass doorknob was cold in his hand. The sofa cushions were too tidy, and I wasn’t propped in my usual seat with my feet on the ottoman […] watching Absolutely Fabulous.”

The detailed descriptions of Honor and Tom’s home after Honor’s and Chloe’s deaths introduce the novel’s thematic explorations of the Emotional Complexities of Death and Grief. Tom is thrust into an impossible new reality after his wife and child are killed in a terrorist attack. Although he intellectually knows Honor and Chloe are gone, his home is steeped with reminders of their presence. The scene has a haunted mood, which conveys Tom’s inability to reconcile with losing his family.