Maine Characters

For Hank, the cabin at Fox Hill Lake was initially a shrine to his parents and a symbol of his wish that his life could go back to the way it was before he told them about his plan to quit his job and marry Dawn instead of Celeste. The narrator describes the cabin as “a time capsule embalmed in grief but also in love” (21). Hank kept the benches near the steps from the beach to the home intact so that the “old folks” could rest—even though no old people lived there during Hank’s lifetime. He also preserved the sagging couch that his father bought his mother shortly after they purchased the place. For his daughters, however, the cabin represents a place of grief, compromise, and growth, and as they process their emotions in the wake of Hank’s death, the cabin becomes a motif of change and highlights the role of Grief as a Catalyst for Personal Transformation.

Initially, Vivian dislikes the cabin and wants to sell it, while Lucy loves the cabin and is desperate to keep it. As time goes on, each woman comes come to understand the other’s viewpoint as they learn to navigate their grief.