Nora Webster

An old acquaintance named Nancy Brophy visits the Webster house to ask a favor. Nancy helps to run a pub quiz alongside a woman named Phyllis Langdon. The quiz tours around the parish halls and is sponsored by Guinness. Nancy cannot attend one of the quizzes, so she asks whether Nora—who is “a wizard at the numbers” (157)—would be able to help. Despite her hesitation, Nora agrees, only to realize that the quiz will take place in Blackwater, which is very close to Cush and Ballyconnigar. She worries about spending so much time in places that remind her of Maurice.

Phyllis drives Nora to the parish hall where the quiz will take place. In the pub, Nora meets an old acquaintance named Tom Darcy who is interested in the quiz even though the high-minded Phyllis looks down on people as uncouth as Tom. Nevertheless, Tom insists on buying a round of alcoholic drinks for Nora and Phyllis and continues to do so throughout the night. The questions in the quiz become more difficult over the course of the evening, and Nora is tasked with the complicated process of adding up the scores while Phyllis asks the questions. 

During the politics round, Phyllis’s consumption of alcohol causes confusion about the correct answer to a question about the Soviet Prime Minister. This issue riles one team, which eventually loses as a consequence. As the losing team grows angry, Tom Darcy ushers Phyllis and Nora into the bar. Phyllis speaks animatedly with Tom while Nora talks to a man who once knew Maurice well. A local man famed for his singing enters and entertains the crowd with a few songs. This inspires the tipsy Phyllis to perform her own song. She insists that Nora accompany her,  and as they perform a stilted rendition of Brahms’s Lullaby, Nora can see people in the crowd mocking her. The performance is “disastrous,” but Phyllis does not care. She resumes drinking until the bar closes, at which point Nora worries that she should not be driving them home. In the car, Phyllis is evidently drunk, so Nora anxiously encourages her to sing to help Phyllis to focus on her driving. Phyllis encourages Nora to audition for the choir in Wexford and promises to take her to the local Gramophone Society.

Nora takes her four children on a vacation. They rent a caravan in Curracloe and visit the beach each day. However, Donal is more interested in the moon voyage unfolding on the news. He regularly goes to the nearby hotel and uses his camera to photograph the television set, documenting the NASA mission. Seamus and Una visit, and Donal’s stammer becomes more pronounced when Seamus recommends that he take pictures of people. Only Fiona has seen Donal’s photographs, and even that was by mistake, when some fell out of a folder. Fiona has found a job in the area and will soon return from Dublin. She stays at the family home and promises to visit the caravan soon. Meanwhile, Aine reads voraciously to satiate her newfound interest in politics.

As the moon landing draws closer, Nora gives Donal  permission to stay late at the hotel. When she goes to collect him, however, the manager is “unfriendly.” The next day, Aine is summoned because Donal tried to return to the hotel, and upon being denied entry because he is not a guest, he became, in Aine’s words “kind of hysterical” (184); he is afraid that he will miss the moon landing. Nora knows that her son is “obsessive.” He would always memorize Maurice’s schedule, and she wonders whether he would be this anxious if Maurice were still alive. Nora arranges to take Donal back to the family home, where he can watch the landing with Fiona. When they arrive home, however, the house is a mess because Fiona has hosted a party, not expecting her family to return. Hearing Fiona moving upstairs, Nora decides to exit without saying anything to her daughter.

As the caravan holiday draws to a close, Nora asks Una to bring Donal back. When he arrives, she notices that he will need to start shaving and will soon be going away to university. Una praises Fiona as “sensible and quiet” (187), prompting Nora to smile knowingly. At the end of the holiday, the family returns home. Nora never mentions the illicit party to Fiona, who also says nothing. Aine does well on her exams and will be able to study at university in Dublin. As Nora returns to work, Aine and Donal are swept up in the news reports of civil unrest in Derry and Belfast. Before starting her new job, Fiona asks to borrow money for a trip to London, and Nora is not sure how to respond. She expected Fiona to contribute part of her salary to the household expenses, but she delays the matter. Meanwhile, Donal shares photographs of the television reports of the violence in Derry. The photos are “blurred, almost smudged” (190), but Nora notices that he does not stammer at all when he talks about them.

Nora invites Jim, Margaret, Una, and Seamus for tea in celebration of Fiona and Aine’s achievements. The conversation turns to the violence in Northern Ireland, and Aine argues stridently for Ireland to send troops across the border “to help our own people” (192). She refuses to stop talking about the matter when the conversation shifts to Fiona’s trip to London. Eventually, Nora agrees to loan Fiona the money.

Phyllis arrives at the house, but because she hates “people who drop in without warning” (194), she only stays long enough to share an idea with Nora. She wants Nora to visit her friend, Laurie O’Keefe, an odd-mannered woman who offers music lessons. She believes that Laurie could prepare Nora to audition for a spot on the Wexford choir. Nora knows about Laurie’s quirky reputation, but after a few days of reflection, she impulsively decides to call on Laurie. 

Laurie’s husband, Billy, does not share his wife’s love of music, so he has constructed a soundproof room for her to conduct her music lessons. Laurie’s is Billy’s second wife. She has led a storied life: she was a nun in France during World War II, then left the convent at age 50 and found a new career in music. Laurie has a penchant for showing off and conspicuously mentioning the famous people she has met and performed alongside. She suggests that Nora begin with a vocal exercise. They work together on a traditional Irish folk song, The Last Rose of Summer. After they finish, Laurie is taken aback. Nora has “left it too late” (201) to become a professional singer, but she has a strong voice.

Over the following weeks, Nora receives regular lessons from Laurie and begins to feel a sense of release and relief after each lesson. One day, she meets up with Phyllis, who describes Laurie as “a law unto herself” (203). Laurie’s teaching methods are unorthodox, but Nora realizes that the “music [is] leading her away from Maurice” (204). She feels strange to be in Laurie’s house, a place where Maurice would never have followed her.

Nora is introduced to the Gramophone Society, and even though Maurice and Jim would have roundly mocked her for attending the meetings, she does so anyway. Each week, one of the members chooses the music, and the other members listen. Nora has no records of her own, so she only attends to listen. She half-recognizes many of the members, and during one of the listening sessions, she must stop herself from laughing at their solemnity. However, Nora is moved by the classical music. Later, she notices Jim in the bar of the hotel where the meeting has taken place and grows embarrassed, but neither of them ever mentions the encounter, and Nora continues to attend the meetings. She is tempted to buy a record player of her own but refrains. Before one meeting, Dr. Radford and his wife invite her to their house. (Many years ago, Maurice borrowed a book from Dr. Radford and lost it.) Nora is worried about this but accepts the invitation.

One evening, Nora goes to the Radford house. Phyllis has warned her that the married couple are “a dreadful pair of bores” (211) who like to impress people. The Radfords’ house is filled with many records. As they sip drinks and listen to music, Nora senses that the Radfords are “alone in a place where there [are] few people like them” (212). Nora selects the final record, Beethoven performed by a trio, because she is struck by the cover art. When she listens to the music, it sounds “more than sad” (213). The Radfords offer to lend the record to her, and Nora accepts, even though she does not have a record player.