Hannah Coulter

After Virgil’s death, Hannah leans on The Power of Memory and Storytelling as a way of keeping love alive. She mourns not only the man she loved but also the life they were meant to share, and the dreams left unfulfilled, symbolized by the house they never built and the family never fully formed. She understands that love and loss are inextricably linked and that those lost survive only if carried forward in memories and stories. Even in her profound grief, Hannah draws strength from raising Little Margaret, remaining close to the Feltners, and staying connected to her community in Port William. Remembering and telling stories about Virgil allows Hannah to honor his past and keep him alive in the present for her daughter. By the age of 26, Hannah recognizes life as always a blend of joy and sorrow. She gains wisdom from learning how to live with pain, letting memory and community sustain her.

In this section, Berry depicts Nathan and Hannah’s bond as a love able to grow, endure, and thrive even in the midst of grief. Virgil’s death, her close relationship with the Feltners, and the presence of Little Margaret add emotional complexity to Hannah’s path toward a new beginning. She carries not only her own sorrow but theirs—the weight of motherhood and the unspoken responsibility to her grieving in-laws make her reluctant to open her heart again. Nathan’s love is quiet, patient, and steady, a model for the type of husband he will be. Over time, Hannah comes to understand that marrying Nathan is not a betrayal of Virgil’s memory but an affirmation that life continues and that remembrance and renewal can coexist. Choosing Nathan is Hannah’s way of beginning again without forgetting.

By marrying Nathan, Hannah embraces a way of life, underscoring The Importance of Place and Belonging. She commits herself not just to Nathan, but to the stewardship of the land, the care of her family, and the enduring values of Port William. In their marriage, they form a small membership, a microcosm of the greater “membership” in their community. From a young age, Hannah has been moving in and out of “memberships” constantly searching for her role within them. Her early life felt like a series of temporary, conditional memberships, where she was useful but not always fully known. When she marries Nathan, she begins to feel genuinely connected, not just to a home, but to a way of life. Her relationships, her labor on the land, and her care for others, all contribute to a sense of purpose that transcends individual identity. With Nathan, the Feltners, and their extended family and friends, Hannah finally finds a place where she is not merely surviving but fully part of “the membership.” Reflecting on this sense of belonging and responsibility, Hannah notes:

Most people now are looking for ‘a better place,’ which means that a lot of them will end up in a worse one. I think this is what Nathan learned from his time in the army and the war. He saw a lot of places, and he came home. I think he gave up the idea that there is a better place somewhere else. There is no ‘better place” than this, not in this world. And it is by the place we’ve got, and our love for it and our keeping of it, that this world is joined to Heaven (96).

The historical context of World War II emphasizes the way the loss of human life and cultural and technological changes shift the established way of living in Hannah’s community. As part of an in-between generation that knew and understood the old way of life, Hannah bears witness to the changes that come in this new era. Nathan, like Hannah, carries the stories and scars of a world reshaped by war. Like so many veterans, he returns physically intact but emotionally changed. He rarely speaks about his time in combat, and most of Nathan’s internal experience remains unspoken. The war makes Nathan more introspective and deliberate, impressing upon him the fragility of life and the value of peace. Rather than being hardened or embittered, Nathan chooses a life of steady purpose, devoting himself to farming, family, and community. He believes that love and labor give life meaning and devotes himself to nurturing his land. 

Nathan’s tractor purchase signals his acceptance of the mechanized, efficiency-driven era of post-war agriculture—a shift away from the Rural Life and Agrarian Values that Berry reveres. Before the war, farming in Port William was labor-intensive, dependent on draft animals, manual labor, and mutual help among neighbors. The tractor represents modernization, reduced dependence on neighbors, increased speed, higher output, and, over time, a shift toward industrial farming that eliminates the need for “the membership.” From Hannah’s retrospective view at the end of her life, she sees that the tractor brought independence and self-reliance but notes that dependence on one another was at the heart of the membership, underscoring the things both gained and lost in this shift.

For Hannah, Andy Catlett, a recurring character in Berry’s Port William series, represents the younger generation that she hopes will carry forward the agrarian legacy of her community. Hannah directly conveys her memories to Andy, framing her storytelling as a way of passing down memories, wisdom, and the meaning of place and community to someone who might still understand and care. Sharing with Andy allows Hannah to feel like she’s preserving what matters before it’s lost, even as she tries to make sense of her life and the lives of those who shaped her. In her old age, walking on her land reminds her of how she endured grief, cultivated love, and lived meaningfully, despite now living in a world that she fears has forgotten the importance of place and community. By directing her story to a young person, she asserts that a good life is not defined by comfort or success, but by faithfulness to people and place.