Comment on theme

Family can weather any storm so long as those involved are committed to making things right. The Stone family is in need of repair in the novel, and it falls upon Benedict’s shoulders to begin to fix things.

The Stone family is in crisis when the novel begins. Benedict has left his wife, and Gemma has left her father and home. Benedict has not spoken to his brother Charlie in eighteen years, owing to Benedict’s drunken one-night stand with Charlie’s then-girlfriend, Amelia. Additionally, Charlie has no idea where Gemma has gone, and he is deeply concerned. The greatest extent of the family’s fracturing occurs after Benedict and Charlie physically fight, represented by Gemma’s cutting up of the gem tree.