The motif of discarded, lost, and broken objects represents the hidden histories and unresolved emotional pain that lie beneath the surface of the community. Evelyn’s mission as curator of the museum is to rescue these items, believing that “[e]very object tells a story” (i). This philosophy drives the novel’s central argument that forgotten things, and by extension forgotten people and memories, deserve a second chance to be understood and valued. The museum’s collection, which ranges from a salt-stained dog lead to a cracked teacup, symbolizes the collective unconscious of Portheast, holding the fragmented stories of love, loss, and grief that its residents have cast aside. Evelyn’s act of beachcombing and collecting is an attempt to value and make sense of the past. As the “Save Our Museum” campaign brings these objects to public attention, they become catalysts for characters to confront painful truths, illustrating the theme of The Cost of Family Secrets. The stories attached to the objects—the dog lead returned to Leonard, the teacup’s link to Sariah’s family trauma, the embroidered sailcloth revealing a hidden love—demonstrate that healing can begin when these lost pieces of the past are reclaimed and their stories are finally told.