Great and Precious Things

Another protagonist and point-of-view character in the novel is Willow, who is Judge Bradley’s daughter, Charity’s sister, and Rose’s aunt. At the time of Sullivan’s death, she was living in Alba and waiting for him to finish his military service so that they could go to college together. However, after he died, she decided to pursue a career in graphic design—despite her father’s insistence that she choose a more practical career like law. Now, Willow works from home as a graphic artist and designs the town’s logos, designs, and renovations for the annual tourist season.

Willow changes throughout the novel from someone fixated on others’ approval to someone who doesn’t care how others view her, including her father and the townspeople. She’s initially hesitant to have a relationship with Cam, thinking of how the town will view it after she dated Sullivan, but she realizes that her feelings for him are more important than town gossip. Central to her development is her father, who constantly critiques her choices. However, when Cam needs support with the Historical Society to restore the mine, she stands up to her father and the rest of the town to work with him. Then, when Judge Bradley attacks Cam for his decision to fight Xander in court, Willow stands up to him and sides with Cam. The moment when Willow grabs Cam’s hand in the diner and leads him away from Judge Bradley marks a key shift in her character. At that point, she no longer cares about what the townspeople think when they see her with Cam or about how her father feels about her decision to date Cam.

Xander is Cam and Sullivan’s brother and Arthur’s son. He’s the mayor of Alba, having lived there his entire life while Sullivan and Cam joined the military. In direct contrast to Cam, he has always cared deeply about how the town views him. He’s a member of the Historical Society Council and respected by the community. He cares for his father while he has Alzheimer’s. However, his decision not to allow his father to have a DNR order is the catalyst for the novel’s events, bringing Cam home to try to intervene. Xander’s actions aren’t initially antagonistic; his reasons for not giving his father a DNR are that he doesn’t want his father to die and that he doesn’t believe he’s lucid enough to make that decision.

Throughout the novel, Xander grows increasingly more combative toward Cam and Willow, making him one of the primary antagonists. While Cam struggles to understand Xander’s decision not to support their father, he’s shocked by Xander’s decision to use aggressive and detrimental tactics in court to fight Cam. Xander uses Cam’s history and Sullivan’s death—indirectly blaming Cam—as evidence against Cam’s fitness to make decisions for Arthur. Additionally, Xander’s lawyer belittles and confuses Arthur while he’s on the stand, leading him to break down in front of the court and appear incompetent. These moments emphasize Xander’s ruthlessness and disregard for Cam and his father, instead wanting to win the approval of the people in Alba. The novel’s climax reveals that Xander is the one who started the bunkhouse fire—and then allowed Cam to take the blame—and that he was responsible for Willow becoming trapped in the mine.

Xander is a static character who doesn’t change throughout the course of the novel. The primary motivation for his wrongdoings is his resentment toward his brothers, Cam and Sullivan, whom he always felt the town viewed as heroes. As a result, he chose to trap Willow in the mine and set the bunkhouse on fire and then try to play the hero in both situations. Even after Xander’s true nature is revealed to his family and the rest of the town, he remains angry and bitter toward Cam. He undergoes no redemption in the novel other than his decision to finally allow Arthur to sign a DNR—which he does only when he faces prison time for his actions.

Arthur is Cam, Xander, and Sullivan’s father. His wife, Lillian, died in a cougar attack a decade before the events of the novel, while his brother, Cal, died seven years earlier. Although Arthur is only 58 years old, he has Alzheimer’s disease and thus has days when he’s lucid and others when he’s confused about the year and people’s identities.

Arthur changes throughout the course of the novel, eventually forgiving Cam for his role in Sullivan’s death and opening up about why he always treated Cam unfairly. Arthur acknowledges that he always feared that Cam would turn out to cause him problems since Xander was such a good child. When his wife became depressed after Cam’s birth, he treated Cam poorly as a result, which culminated in him blaming Cam for Sullivan’s death. However, in the novel’s resolution, Arthur finally opens up to Cam and admits that it wasn’t just Cam’s choice but a multitude of choices that led to Sullivan’s death. As a result, he and Cam have a stronger, healthier relationship at the novel’s end.

Arthur often reinforces negative stereotypes surrounding Alzheimer’s disease. The novel portrays him as angry and violent; for example, it introduces him as a character when he pulls a gun on Willow and shoots Cam. He’s directly antagonistic toward Cam throughout much of the novel, refusing to allow Cam into his home and conversing with him only for help getting Xander to approve his DNR order. However, in the novel’s climax, he achieves redemption by discovering the path in the mines where Willow got lost and leading the others to Rose. In this way, his depiction as an antihero is problematic. The novel portrays his negative attributes as directly linked to Alzheimer’s disease but depicts his redemptive arc as an unexpected moment of lucidity.