How I Live Now

The narrative reveals that the occupation lasted nine months in total. Although it was over by Christmas, Daisy had been pulled out of England by her father before the end of the conflict.

In the immediate aftermath of her return to the United States, Daisy is lonely, and she remains distraught over the fact that she does not know what happened to Edmond. She wants to go back to England, but in the meantime, she reads, writes letters, and survives day by day, anxiously awaiting any news of Edmond and the others. Davina’s baby is born, and they name her Leonora. Davina contrasts the baby’s air of normalcy with her perception that Daisy is abnormal. After being released from the hospital, Daisy only stays with her father and Davina for a few days.

Instead, she moves to a building near the New York Public Library and gets a job there. It is quiet in the library because not many people visit. Once the borders between England and the US are reopened for civilians, Daisy gets a letter from Piper. The influence of Daisy’s father allows her to be one of the first people to travel to England from the US. The journey takes over a week and includes plane trip and a long delay at customs. Overall, people are glad to see tourists returning to England. She gets on a bus after exiting the airport, mentally telling her family in England that she is on her way home.

Daisy calls the phone number that Piper included in her letter. An unfamiliar voice answers and says that her family is happy to know that she is coming. Daisy has to take several buses, but she finally arrives in the village. When Piper greets her, Daisy cries, and Piper looks like she is working hard not to cry as well. They hug and walk to the house, holding hands. Piper shares that Aunt Penn died during her attempts to return to England from Oslo. Daisy compares Aunt Penn’s willingness to die in order to see her children again to the fact that Daisy’s own mother died in childbirth.

Daisy never learns what the war was about, but various people claim that it was fought over “oil, money, land, sanctions, [and] democracy” (176). While they walk, Piper updates Daisy about their family. Osbert adopted his siblings after Aunt Penn’s death, but he later moved in with his girlfriend. He still visits the house frequently. Isaac works with animals on the family farm, and he also helps neighbors with their animal problems. The family has decided to become self-sufficient by expanding their vegetable gardens and fields with more crops. Piper is in love with a man named Jonathan, who is training to be a doctor. She also wants to be a doctor but is on a long waiting list for the university.

When they arrive at the house, Isaac greets them and hugs Daisy. He speaks more than he has ever spoken to her, explaining that he was going to come and meet her in the village as well, but Piper wanted to have some time alone with Daisy. Finally, Piper tells Daisy that it is time to see Edmond.

Edmond is sitting in the garden, surrounded by flowers. Piper kneels in front of him, explaining that Daisy has come. He briefly looks at her with a harsh expression, then closes his eyes. Piper pulls out a chair for Daisy and leaves them alone. Edmond is thin and bears scars all over his arms and neck. Daisy tries to talk to him, but he gives her a poisonous look. She looks over the garden, which has been expanded and seems to be Edmond’s work. Piper advises Daisy to give Edmond some time.

In the following days, Daisy has trouble going into the garden. Even the plants seem angry, just like Edmond. Daisy spends less and less time with Edmond, who remains silent whenever she is nearby. In the meantime, she works hard on the farm. One day, Isaac suggests that Daisy talk to Edmond. She doesn’t believe that Edmond will listen, and she is afraid to ask what happened to him. When Isaac insists that Edmond is listening, Daisy grows upset and says that Edmond doesn’t seem to realize that he is the reason that she was able to survive. Isaac explains Edmond stopped believing in their love. Daisy admits that the garden is frightening.

Daisy goes to Edmond and talks to him for hours. When she tells him that she loves him, he finally responds, asking why she left him. She explains that her father had control over her because she was still a minor, and she now wishes that she had never answered his phone call that day. Edmond looks away. Daisy holds his hands and tells him that she has been obsessed with him all these years; she explains that this obsession has kept her alive and that she came back to England as soon as the borders opened. At the end of her long speech, he says, “OK” (185). He puts her hands in his, warming her skin.

Piper tells Daisy about the cooperatives that began after the occupation ended. The cooperative is how she met Jonathan, the man who answered Daisy’s call when she first arrived. Daisy likes him. He tells her about how things started to reopen after she left.

One day, Daisy gets up the courage to ask what happened to Edmond and learns that he lived peacefully at Gateshead Farm with Isaac for a while. However, when he and Isaac got a psychic premonition that something bad was going to happen, they tried to warn the others at the farm, including Dr. Jameson—but to no avail. Isaac finally forced Edmond to leave with him and go into hiding, although Edmond wanted to stay with the others. Eventually, Isaac wanted to move to another hiding place, but Edmond refused to come with him. Isaac ended up in the village a couple days after Piper left. Edmond returned to Gateshead farm but could not save the people there. Edmond wandered off and was eventually captured by enemy soldiers. They did not have enough food to feed him, and he escaped to return to the house and the lambing barn. When he was reunited with his siblings, he refused to speak about what happened for a year.

Now, Jonathan explains to Daisy that Edmond feels guilty about the deaths of everyone at Gateshead farm; Edmond’s scars are from self-harm. Working on the garden helps him to cope, but he struggles in winter when it is hard to care for the garden. He still won’t talk about what he saw at Gateshead or with the enemy soldiers. Jonathan learned what happened to Edmond through other people who saw him.

Daisy realizes that Edmond was probably forced to watch the enemy kill everyone at Gateshead farm. She doesn’t think that Piper and Jonathan have realized this, but she assumes that Isaac has figured it out. Daisy feels guilty for leaving England before Edmond returned home.

Daisy gardens alongside Edmond, who begins to tell her about the plants, and she remembers the scientific names of the ones that allowed her to survive when she was traveling across the country with Piper. Sometimes Edmond smiles, and Daisy tells him that she is home for good, gently touching his scars. She knows that Edmond is severely traumatized and has used self-harm to cope with this trauma and survive. She reflects that Isaac survived by connecting with animals, while she herself was the one who made sure that Piper survived.

Daisy remains by Edmond’s side, offering peace and love, and the whole family works hard to manage the farm. Daisy learns about the post-war conditions of the area and fights against these problems. She feels like she belongs with Edmond, and being with him and his family becomes her life.