65 pages • 2 hours read
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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Chapters 21-35Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, substance use, physical abuse, death by suicide, graphic violence, and child abuse.
Chapter 21 Summary
In his third life, during the Great Depression, a young Harry stands over Harriet August’s coffin and realizes, observing Rory Hulne’s appearance, that he is illegitimate. He feels “no outrage,” grateful for the love his adoptive parents gave him. With the Hulnes’ estate in decline, Harry takes over the professional duties of his grieving adoptive father.
This gives him an opportunity to observe his biological family, including his grandmother, Constance, and aunts, Alexandra and Victoria. He discovers Rory using diacetylmorphine for a war injury. After Victoria, who supplied Rory with the drug, strikes Harry for spying, Harry anonymously reports her drug dealer to the police. Seeking spiritual answers, Harry encounters Rory in the estate chapel, where they have their first, awkward conversation (about prayer).
Chapter 22 Summary
During his fifth life, Harry seeks help managing the trauma of his previous torture and suicide. With limited options, he begins writing letters to his biological father, Rory. Using the pseudonym Private Harry Brookes, he adapts his own traumatic experiences into a fictional story of a tortured World War I prisoner.
Harry grows angry as weeks pass without a reply. Finally, a letter from Rory arrives, expressing profound empathy and solidarity as one soldier to another.
