In Gordon Jr.’s narrative, Knapp centers the long-term Effects of Domestic Abuse on Cora by detailing her husband’s calculating and coordinated efforts to control her life. His coercive control of Cora intensifies over the years, making her world smaller and more isolated. Gordon Sr. systematically cuts off his wife’s contact with friends and family by preventing her from accessing a phone and her mail. He also severs any connection she feels with the wider world by denying her access to TV and radio, making her utterly reliant on him as “her only constant, the only person to make her feel she exists” (182). Knapp underscores Gordon Sr.’s psychological control of Cora when she steams open her mail, framing the reading of her own correspondence as an illicit act.

Cora’s discovery that Gordon Sr. has withheld the news of her mother’s death represents a turning point in her character arc, moving her from passive endurance to active resistance. Her limited options when seeking help (a woman she last saw 20 years earlier, and the local vet) reiterate the extent of her social isolation. Cora’s friendlessness in this narrative thread contrasts with her life in Bear’s narrative, where Mehri is a constant source of friendship and support, highlighting The Large Impact of Small Choices. While Cora never learns the name of the kind “curly-haired” vet who calls the women’s refuge on her behalf in Gordon Jr.’s storyline, she dates him in the parallel thread.

These chapters trace the ongoing impact of domestic violence on the Atkin children as they enter adulthood. In Julian’s storyline, Knapp conveys the traumatic legacy created when one’s father kills one’s mother through Julian’s aversion to England—the site of his father’s crime. His refusal to associate with the country in any way prevents his business from expanding and contributes to his financial precarity. In Bear’s story, Maia’s response when she sees her father in a traffic jam demonstrates the enduring anxiety and fear that witnessing domestic violence as a child provokes. The description of Maia sitting “low in her seat, flattening herself against the backrest as though trying to compress her entire being into the leather” (155) highlights an instinctual, physical impulse to make herself small to the point of invisibility. Knapp depicts the complexity of Maia’s emotions when she brushes away an affectionate gesture from Charlotte—a reaction that demonstrates that, despite her perception of her father as a dangerous predator, Maia still instinctually craves his approval and believes he will be disgusted by her sexual orientation. Knapp portrays Maia as a young woman who has “edited away all the unsavoury parts of herself, to leave a version that is nowhere near the truth” (194). Knapp positions Maia’s impulse to hide her personal life and her family history as a trauma response that keeps her from living freely and authentically.

Cora’s belief that Gordon Sr.’s character was adversely shaped by his father’s cruelty emphasizes the novel’s thematic engagement with Breaking Free from Generational Cycles of abuse. Through the three portraits of Gordon Sr.’s son, the novel explores the relative impacts of nature versus nurture. In her portrayal of Julian, Knapp suggests that his character develops in direct opposition to what he knows about his father. Julian’s dread of inheriting his father’s disposition manifests as anxiety that he will hurt other people—a trait illustrated by Julian’s childhood aversion to rough sports and his fear of entering into a relationship with Orla. By contrast, Gordon Jr. seems destined to follow his father’s trajectory as he enters the “fraternity” of investment banking. The author emphasizes the atmosphere of toxic masculinity in Gordon’s workplace, where “He can be the most unpalatable version of himself, and the next person will say or do something worse” (181). In Bear’s plotline, his fears of nearly losing Lily directly echo his childhood fears of losing his mother to his father’s violence. His fear clarifies his priorities, and he takes action—accepting a permanent position in London and proposing to Lily—just as his mother took action and rebuilt her life with Felix.