Maine Characters

“The loftlike space has few interior walls and doors, which made Lucy’s exercise of checking every inch somewhat pointless. The only places for privacy are the two bathrooms. It’s a terrible house for keeping secrets.”

When Lucy arrives at Hank’s cabin on Fox Hill Lake, she searches the house for her father even though she knows that it is impossible to “hide” there. The passage also contains a moment of heavy irony in the assertion that the cabin is “a terrible house for keeping secrets,” as Hank has successfully harbored a wealth of secrets here for many years.

“Misery wafts off Lucy like an overpowering perfume.”

The author’s vivid description of misery as a “perfume” reflects the narrative’s overall focus on raising emotions like ghosts to haunt each character with the echoes of what might have been. In this scene, Vivian’s initial thoughts about her half-sister indirectly characterize them both. Lucy’s grief-stricken response to the news of Hank’s death broadcasts her emotional vulnerability, while Vivian’s snap judgment reveals her simmering resentment and derision over Lucy’s very existence.

“Their old intimacy has morphed into something painfully rigid. It’s horrifying, just another thing to grieve.”

In this passage, Lucy reflects on the dynamics of her crumbling marriage to Patrick and laments his decision to ask for a divorce. Her anguish over this loss is compounded by the news of Hank’s death. Now, as she grieves the end of her marriage, she finds a fresh source of loss in the realization that she can never again enjoy the familiar intimacy that she once shared with her husband.