63 pages • 2-hour read
My Oxford Year: A Novel
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Chapters 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of illness and death.
Chapter 19 Summary
Chapter 19 begins with a quote from William Butler Yeats’s “When You Are Old,” 1891.
Ella goes to Jamie’s house, and he invites her in. They awkwardly apologize to each other, and Jamie explains what happened. Four years ago, Oliver was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and Jamie was tested for the genetic component of the disease, which was not present. Oliver died despite treatment, and Jamie discovered he had the same disease less than a year later. Jamie underwent chemotherapy and stem-cell replacement, which sent the cancer into remission. However, the day Jamie met Ella for the first time, he found out the cancer had returned. A week ago, Jamie pulled away from Ella because he is undergoing another round of treatment, and the effects of the treatment were beginning to show. Jamie is intimately familiar with multiple myeloma because of Oliver’s experience with it, and he has the money to receive treatments at home. Though Ella thinks Jamie chose to start the relationship because of its predetermined ending, Jamie confesses that he did not feel sick with Ella, allowing him to pretend the disease did not exist. Ella thinks there is a chance Jamie will survive, but she remembers Jamie telling her to do things in the spring that he does not see himself doing. Jamie looks ill, excuses himself, and vomits in the bathroom. Ella realizes that, if Jamie and Oliver were reversed, she would have lived her year at Oxford without ever meeting him. Ella asks Jamie about his parents when he returns, but he says he feels unwell and wants to sleep. Ella insists on staying with him, and he drifts to sleep on a couch. Ella looks at Jamie, seeing the indications of his illness, and she wonders what she will do for the next six months.
Chapter 20 Summary
Chapter 20 begins with a quote from James Thomson’s “Mr. MacCall at Cleveland Hall,” 1866.
Ella wakes up on the couch with Jamie, who says he did not want to trap her. He looks normal, and Ella realizes he could have kept his illness a secret. Ella does not feel trapped, and she says she wants to be Jamie’s girlfriend. Jamie agrees.
They have breakfast, and Ella debates her trip around Europe during winter vacation. Jamie notes that his final treatment is just three days before Ella’s trip. She tells him the cities she wants to visit, and he laughs that she will miss all the interesting parts of Europe. He agrees to go with her, though she insists that he doesn’t for everything. While they plan the trip, Ella finds an invitation to the Blenheim Ball and asks Jamie if they can go. Jamie refuses, saying he hates such events, and his parents will be there. Ella feigns offense that Jamie does not want her to meet his parents, and Jamie acquiesces on the condition that he may leave the ball early. Ella requests bringing Maggie, Charlie, and Tom. Jamie agrees, they embrace, and Jamie wonders if Cecelia will go. Ella resents the mention of Cecelia, but Jamie adds that his parents do what they can to make Cecelia comfortable. Cecelia was Oliver’s fiancée.
Chapter 21 Summary
Chapter 21 begins with a quote from Robert Browning’s “Confessions,” 1864.
Ella, Jamie, Maggie, Tom, and Charlie go to the ball. Ella is stunned by the size and grandeur of Blenheim Palace. Tom finally notices Maggie and cannot stop looking at her, and Ella and Jamie walk through the building looking at the architecture. Ella wonders if Jamie’s choice to become an academic is a failing to his family. Jamie’s mother, Antonia, excitedly grabs Jamie and introduces herself. Jamie and Antonia have a good relationship, which surprises Ella. Antonia calls over Jamie’s father, William, then leaves William with Jamie and Ella. William asks why Jamie is refusing stem-cell replacement in favor of more chemotherapy, but Jamie does not answer and leaves to find Cecelia. Ella knows the stem-cell replacement was harsh for Jamie, and she assures William that Jamie is taking care of himself. William snaps at Ella, which shocks her, and Antonia invites Ella to their home in Scotland before pulling William away. Ella finds Jamie talking to Cecelia. Jamie goes to get drinks, and Ella tries to get to know Cecelia. She says she knows about Cecelia and Oliver, who got engaged just six months into dating when Oliver was diagnosed. Cecelia is grateful and offers to support Ella. She asks about the classes Ella wants to take, adding that she is taking a comedy course to learn how to laugh again.
The group has fun at the ball, with Cecelia laughing at Charlie’s jokes. Tom dances awkwardly with Maggie, and Ella suggests that Jamie dance with Cecelia. Ella takes a brief call from Gavin, who suggests a permanent position in Janet’s administration. Ella dances with William, who tells her how he grew up without money, met Antonia, eloped, and inherited more land than he could manage. William references Ella’s job with Gavin, her upbringing, and her father’s death, which surprises Ella. He assumes Ella is ashamed of her father. Ella tries to pull away, but William holds her, not wanting to make a scene. William thinks Ella is manipulating Jamie into giving her a European vacation, but Ella insists Jamie is making his own choices. When William insults her again, Ella pulls away and goes to the bathroom, telling William neither she nor Jamie care what he has to say.
Chapter 22 Summary
Chapter 22 begins with a quote from Wiliam Ernest Henley’s “IX-To W.R.,” 1877.
Ella and Jamie leave Oxford in Jamie’s car, heading to France. Ella decided not to tell Jamie about her interaction with William to avoid family conflict. Antonia gave Ella her number, but Ella has not called. Jamie had his last round of chemotherapy three days ago, and he is still a little dazed. While driving, Ella notices Jamie drifting onto the shoulder and sees his gaze fading. Jamie faints, Ella grabs the wheel, and the car slowly drifts into the shoulder. Ella pulls the emergency brake and tries to wake Jamie. Jamie wakes long enough to tell her to dial 999 instead of 911 for an ambulance, adding that she should not call his parents.
Chapter 23 Summary
Chapter 23 begins with a quote from Arthur Hugh Clough’s “Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth,” 1862.
Ella follows behind the ambulance, struggling to drive a stick-shift car on the opposite side of the road. She wants to help Jamie repair his relationship with his parents, since she will not be with him after June 11. Parking the car at the hospital, Ella runs into a sign and decides to make a call.
Jamie and Ella return to Jamie’s home, where he needs to wait two weeks to see if the medication the doctors gave him for anemia works. Jamie tells Ella to travel anyway, but she refuses. Antonia and William ring the doorbell. Antonia greets Ella, but William charges to Jamie, demanding to know why he would choose travel instead of treatment. Jamie says he will consider the stem-cell replacement when Ella leaves, and both Ella and William exclaim that Ella is not part of this situation. William wants Jamie to join a drug trial, but Jamie does not know what the side effects will be. He thinks Oliver was killed by a drug trial. William thinks Jamie is a better candidate, and Ella agrees that he should do the trial. Antonia separates William and Jamie, telling Jamie to consider his options and remember that his family must live with his choices. William leaves, and Antonia hugs Jamie, crying. Antonia leaves, and Jamie asks Ella to give him a moment. Ella watches Antonia comfort William on the stoop, then she returns to Jamie and comforts him the same way. Ella says the illness inevitably changes their relationship, but Jamie needs to keep her informed for her to help him.
Chapter 24 Summary
Chapter 24 begins with a quote from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam, A.H.H., canto 50, 1850.
For the three months of the trial, Ella often tends to Jamie in the bathroom between bouts of vomiting. They have long conversations, though Jamie sometimes falls asleep or changes the subject. On Jamie’s good days, Ella goes out with Charlie, Tom, and Maggie. She has become close with Cecelia, both because of their shared experience and Cecelia’s knowledge. Ella is writing her thesis on education in Middlemarch. Jamie and Ella sometimes go out for food and drinks. Ella loves her life, but she hesitates to move into Jamie’s house, not wanting to plant roots that will need to be torn out. Jamie tells Ella about the history of Oxford, which used to be the best place on the Thames to ford oxen across the river, hence the name Oxenford. When Oliver was dying, William kept insisting on more treatments that pulled Oliver away from Oxford. Oliver transferred power of attorney—medical decision-making ability—to Jamie from William, which upset William. Jamie feels something special about Oxford. He tells Ella he wants to stay in Oxford even when he dies, referencing Tennyson. Though medicine keeps people alive longer, Jamie feels there is no dignity in a slow death. Ella realizes William behaves as he does because he loves Jamie.
Gavin calls and tells Ella that Janet is pregnant. The father is Janet’s boyfriend, Peter, and they are deciding to pull out of the race. Janet has polled as well as her opponent, and tonight is the final debate between them. Ella accepts the news and realizes she can now stay in Oxford longer, but she calls Gavin back and tells him Janet should not drop out. Gavin puts Janet on the phone, and Ella suggests doing the debate and forcing Hillerson to admit that only misogyny would prevent a mother from becoming president. Janet and Gavin agree. Ella does not tell Jamie the news, but he suggests taking a small trip for Ella’s birthday next week. He says they can go anywhere Ella wants.
Chapters 19-24 Analysis
In this section, the tone of the novel shifts after Ella learns about Jamie’s illness, moving from romantic fantasy into raw confrontation with mortality. Their relationship progresses quickly, with Ella deciding to become Jamie’s girlfriend, and Ella is forced to reflect more on her life choices. In Chapter 19, Ella thinks: “The idea that I could have missed him in this life by a matter of years, two small insignificant years, an infinitesimal moment in the history of the earth, a geological blink, paralyzes me” (166). The happenstance of the romance and Jamie’s illness forms a critical link in Ella’s development as a character, since her main fear is reexperiencing the grief she felt when her father died. In this moment, she realizes how happenstance governed her father’s death, but it also determined her meeting Jamie on her first day in England. Just as a single moment once took her father from her life, she now understands that chance could just as easily have erased her meeting with Jamie altogether. Even though missing out on meeting Jamie would mean never suffering from losing him, it would also mean redefining her Oxford experience, never enjoying her time with him, and foregoing a love she would not even know was possible. The conceptual loss Ella finds in this hypothetical situation is scarier than the prospect of Jamie’s death, which becomes increasingly relevant as the novel progresses. This paradox captures the theme of The Transformative Power of Love and Loss, as Ella begins to see that the possibility of grief is inseparable from the possibility of love, and that choosing safety would mean choosing emptiness.
Jamie’s recounting of Oliver’s suffering and his own remission frames illness not simply as a medical fact but as a narrative arc shaping identity. The detail that Jamie met Ella on the very day he learned his cancer had returned links romance to mortality. Whelan emphasizes this through juxtaposition. Their flirtations are shadowed by chemotherapy and stem-cell transplants, making illness a catalyst for Ella’s reevaluation of what matters in her limited year abroad. What begins as casual attraction hardens into devotion, with Ella openly choosing to become Jamie’s girlfriend despite knowing the likely trajectory of his illness. This choice signals a tonal shift in the novel, away from playful experimentation and into a more sober narrative of commitment. Jamie, too, evolves from the guarded man who deflected intimacy with one-night stands into someone who welcomes Ella into the most vulnerable corners of his life. Their bond is no longer framed by rules and distance but by the acknowledgment that they are all in, even under the shadow of impermanence.
Much as Connor was a false rival for Jamie in the prior section of the novel, Cecelia becomes a false rival for Ella as she learns more about Jamie, Oliver, and Cecelia’s past. Ella was paranoid that Cecelia and Jamie were romantically involved, but she learns that Cecelia stayed with Oliver until his death. When Ella reaches out to Cecelia at the ball, she thinks: “I like her, I realize. Her coldness, her aloofness, what I mistook for jealousy, I now see was just her protectiveness of Jamie” (184). Cecelia is not a rival but a parallel to Ella’s own situation. By reframing Cecelia not as competition but as a mirror, Whelan complicates the romance genre’s tendency to pit women against each other. The real tension lies not between them but in how each woman processes grief, and their wary solidarity illustrates how loss can collapse traditional rivalries into shared recognition.
Like Ella, Cecelia prevents people from getting close to her, fearing the same loss that she experienced with Oliver. She is “cold” and “aloof” because her last intimate relationship ended in loss. However, this devastation prepares Cecelia to become a part of Ella’s support system, and she even offers to talk with Ella about her experience with Oliver. Her conversation with Ella changes her attitude completely, as Cecelia participates in the joking and fun of the ball afterward, showing how a solid support system can help move past trauma. This mirroring of the two women underscores how grief produces both isolation and solidarity, binding them through the shared burden of loss. In this way, Cecelia embodies The Transformative Power of Love and Loss in reverse. Where Ella begins to open up after repression, Cecelia illustrates the isolating aftermath of grief, offering a glimpse of what Ella might have remained had she never risked loving Jamie.
The Blenheim Ball sequence intensifies the theme of Career Ambition Versus Personal Fulfillment. The grandeur of the palace represents the social world Ella might enter through Jamie, but William’s hostility forces her to confront how her political ambitions and her romance are perceived as transactional. His cutting remark that Ella is manipulating Jamie for a vacation exposes the gendered suspicion of women’s motives, while Antonia’s warmth provides the counterbalance of acceptance. Ella’s simultaneous phone call with Gavin, urging her to consider Janet’s campaign, makes the ballroom a literal crossroads between professional duty and personal devotion.
The themes of Career Ambition Versus Personal Fulfillment and Illness as a Catalyst for Reevaluating Life Choices clash, since Ella must choose between supporting Jamie through his illness and pursuing a career in Janet’s administration. At the end of Chapter 24, Gavin calls Ella to tell her that Janet is pulling out of the race because she is pregnant, but Ella thinks: “But with all that churning inside me, my only thought as I stare at the blank screen is: now I can stay in Oxford. It trumps everything. And that scares the hell out of me” (217). Ella is afraid because staying in Oxford ensures that she will experience the pains of Jamie’s illness and treatments, culminating in his death. While Jamie’s illness is a critical part of why Ella wants to stay in England, it is also the impetus for her to call Gavin back and insist that Janet continue the campaign. So long as Ella can hold onto the idea that she is leaving and going back to the US before Jamie dies, she can ignore the inevitable pain and grief that she would face if she stayed to watch Jamie die.
In this sense, her divided response is both a mental escape plan and an extension of the very skills that earned her a place on Janet’s team—her ability to reframe setbacks, pivot strategically, and keep up appearances under pressure. Whelan suggests that Ella’s ambition and her emotional repression come from the same instinct for control, and the tension in this section lies in watching those instincts falter in the face of love. Unlike Jamie, who seems locked into a single course—choosing treatment schedules around Ella’s departure, agreeing to the ball only for her sake, and insisting he will plan his last months on his terms—Ella is still in motion, weighing multiple paths and testing the limits of her own desire. Her divided life dramatizes how love and ambition both demand sacrifice, with no path promising immunity from loss.
The fainting scene on the road literalizes this danger, as Jamie’s collapse while driving threatens both their lives, embodying how illness erodes the illusion of control. Ella’s desperate instinct to call 911 before remembering to dial 999 shows her displacement between worlds—an American political operative navigating a British crisis of love and mortality. This moment bridges her dual selves, forcing her to decide whether her “Oxford year” is a career credential or a personal reckoning.
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