Veronica watches her daughters play and feels compelled to find a way to tell the story of what happened to Liam.

Veronica travels to her mother's house to deliver the news that her brother Liam has died.

Veronica begins fictionalizing her grandmother Ada's past, imagining Nugent first seeing Ada in a hotel lobby.

Veronica travels to England to identify and officially claim her brother Liam's body.

Veronica arrives in Brighton, views Liam's body, and walks along the beach where he drowned.

Veronica recalls the period when she, Liam, and Kitty were sent to live with their grandmother Ada as children.

Veronica imagines Ada and Charlie at the horse races, where Charlie's warm support convinces Ada to choose him over Nugent.

Ada takes Veronica, Liam, and Kitty to St. Ita's psychiatric hospital to visit Ada's institutionalized son Brendan.

Veronica reveals her long-repressed memory of finding Nugent sexually assaulting a young Liam at Ada's house.

Veronica drives her sister Kitty to the former St. Ita's site and is disturbed by the single mass unmarked grave.

Liam's wake is held at the Hegarty family home and the surviving siblings gather awkwardly for the first time in years.

Veronica has a memory she cannot verify of being sexually assaulted by Nugent herself as a child.

Veronica finds old family records proving that Nugent owned Ada and Charlie's house, confirming his financial control over the family.

At Liam's funeral, Veronica meets a woman named Sarah and is introduced to Rowan, Liam's three-year-old son.

Veronica flies impulsively to England, sleeps deeply for the first time in months, and resolves to tell her siblings about Liam's molestation.

The novel opens with Veronica Hegarty receiving the devastating news that her brother Liam has died by suicide and taking on the task of traveling to England to claim his body. As she prepares for the wake and funeral, she begins fictionalizing her grandmother Ada's past in an effort to understand the roots of her family's suffering. Her excavation of memory surfaces the darkest secret of her childhood: witnessing the family friend Nugent sexually assaulting Liam at Ada's house. The surviving Hegarty siblings gather at their mother's home for Liam's wake, and Veronica is tormented by a memory she cannot verify of being abused by Nugent herself. At Liam's funeral, she makes a startling discovery when she is introduced to his three-year-old son Rowan. Veronica ultimately escapes to England, where she finally sleeps, grieves clearly, and resolves to break the family silence by telling her siblings the truth about Liam's childhood abuse.

The headline events driving Liam's story from death to revelation.

Veronica calls her siblings to tell them about Liam's death and drives alone to the airport, overwhelmed with grief.

Veronica stays up all night deliberately avoiding her husband Tom, reflecting on how cold their marriage has become.

Veronica imagines Charlie Spillane arriving at the hotel lobby and taking Nugent away before he can speak to Ada.

Veronica's mother insists on an open casket for Liam, and Bea recalls that their father had made the same request before his death.

Veronica recalls a specific day when she, Liam, and Kitty tried to run away from Ada's house back to their mother.

Veronica views grandfather Charlie's dead body alongside a young Liam and comprehends for the first time that Liam will also die one day.

Liam visits Veronica in hospital after the birth of her daughter Rebecca, and the family begins to acknowledge his alcohol addiction.

Veronica recalls Nugent regularly visiting Ada's home with his tools and candy for the children, hiding his obsession with Ada.

Veronica visits Liam in England during university and stays in a chaotic shared house where a drug dealer operates from the basement.

Veronica drives through Dublin at night while slightly drunk and returns home to have sex with Tom before sleeping in her daughter's bed.

Liam is bailed out of jail by their father, and the shame of it permanently alters the relationship between the two men.

Veronica waits anxiously for Liam's body to be processed by English authorities so it can be returned to Ireland for burial.

On the night of Liam's wake, Veronica and Tom have sex, which Veronica privately believes will be the last time.

At Liam's funeral, Veronica recalls a memory of her father once hitting her for asking an inappropriate question about the Virgin Mary.

Veronica imagines an elderly Ada sitting alone in a café after hearing of Nugent's death, then leaving with the intention of moving on.

These events trace the quieter, slower moments surrounding Liam's death and the history that preceded it. Veronica alerts her scattered siblings and finds herself isolated in grief, unable to connect with her husband Tom and haunted by memories of Liam's gradual decline through alcohol and social chaos. Flashbacks reveal the family dynamics that shaped Liam's troubled path, from early visits to Ada's home to the shameful night Liam was bailed out of jail by their father. The bureaucratic wait for Liam's body to be processed adds to Veronica's emotional exhaustion, while her restless nighttime drives and erratic behavior signal her deteriorating inner state. The wake and funeral bring moments of grief, intimacy, and reluctant honesty, and Veronica's imagination fills in the silences of Ada's past with scenes of longing and quiet endurance. Together, these events build the full portrait of a family defined by what it cannot say aloud.

The supporting events that shaped Liam's life and Veronica's grief.

Veronica decides she cannot tell Liam's story without going back to her grandmother Ada's history and the family's deep past.

Veronica reflects that her suspicions about Tom's infidelity have worsened since Liam's death and she can barely recognize her husband's body.

Veronica recalls Ada's funeral and realizes she felt no desire for any of Ada's belongings, only a wish for a larger life.

Veronica recalls imagining Ada as a sex worker — a story she invented to explain her family to her college boyfriend Michael Weiss.

Veronica imagines an older Nugent visiting Ada alone while Charlie is away and wonders whether Ada and Nugent had a secret affair.

Veronica learns that Liam drowned himself by filling his pockets with stones and that he was without socks or underwear at his death.

Veronica tries to explain to her young daughter Emily that Liam died by drowning and that he chose to do so.

Veronica picks a fight with Tom and spends a night alone in a hotel, realizing her entire marriage has been built on false happiness.

Veronica reflects that Liam always seemed unmodern and out of time whenever he returned to Ireland from England.

At Liam's wake, Veronica imagines she can see the ghosts of Ada, Charlie, and Nugent moving among the gathered siblings.

Veronica recalls Liam's uncontrollable brutal honesty alienating everyone around him, and remembers experimenting with self-cutting during her Catholic school years.

Veronica recalls Ada quietly sewing and reconceives her grandmother as a passive figure, untethered from her past and unconcerned about the future.

Veronica asks her mother which house she grew up in and wonders whether bearing so many children helped her mother escape her own troubled past.

Veronica concludes that Nugent's resentment at Ada for not marrying him explains his financial control over the household and his abuse of her grandchildren.

Veronica thinks of her daughters and realizes she would not want her life to be any different, choosing to embrace living fully.

This pool follows the internal turning points at which Veronica's grief transforms into revelation. Early in the story she commits to excavating her family's history, which leads her to question everything — her marriage, her memories, and her own complicity in Liam's suffering. Crucial shifts occur as she learns the disturbing specifics of Liam's death, confronts her faltering marriage, and faces the quiet damage done by her grandmother's passive acceptance of Nugent's presence in their lives. Her encounters with the siblings at the wake and her imagined visions of family ghosts crystallize the long history of denial that contributed to Liam's destruction. Veronica's recognition that Nugent's resentment drove both his financial control and his abuse of Ada's family is the analytical breakthrough that allows her to place guilt where it belongs. The pool closes with Veronica choosing, despite everything, to embrace her life as it is — finding meaning and hope in her love for her daughters.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that reshape Veronica's understanding.