The following version of this book was used to create the guide: McDermott, Alice. Absolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.

Alice McDermott’s novel Absolution spans several generations and is written in the epistolary form. Each section of the novel presents a letter between the main characters and first person narrators, Patricia and Rainey. Because of the unconventional narrative form, McDermott employs both the past and present tenses and deforms linear time. For the sake of clarity, the following summary relies upon the present tense and abides by a streamlined mode of explanation.

After Rainey’s mother Charlene dies, she sorts through the family attic. She is surprised to find many of her late mother’s letters to old friends. The letters feature conversations between Charlene and the people she knew while living in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Through the letters, Rainey learns of Charlene’s connection to a woman named Patricia. Eager to learn more about her mother’s past, Rainey writes to Patricia.

Patricia is surprised to hear from Rainey, who she knew as a little girl. In an attempt to answer Rainey’s questions about Charlene, Patricia pens her late friend’s daughter a lengthy letter about the past.

Patricia married her boyfriend, Peter, when she was in her early twenties. The early days of their marriage were idyllic. Patricia loved Peter and eagerly adopted his dreams and ambitions as her own. She had learned that marriage and family would guarantee her safety and security. Therefore, when Peter was relocated to Vietnam, Patricia did not argue. She saw the relocation as an adventure, rather than a burden.

Shortly after arriving in Vietnam, Patricia became acquainted with Charlene, another military wife. Unlike Patricia, Charlene was political, opinionated, and outspoken. Although Patricia did not understand Charlene’s various altruistic endeavors, she agreed to help Charlene execute her plans. She was desperate to be accepted by Charlene and the other wives. Per Charlene’s suggestions, she therefore started volunteering at a children’s hospital and selling Barbie dresses to raise money for Vietnamese locals.

Patricia was happy to learn she was pregnant. She had always wanted to be a mother. Therefore, when she discovered she was miscarrying one night, she tried to hide the truth. She felt like a failure as a wife and a woman.

After healing from the miscarriage, Patricia rejoined Charlene’s efforts. Over the course of the following months, she tried to distract herself from her sorrow and disappointment. Then one day, Charlene dragged Patricia to an orphanage, handed her a baby, and told her the child was hers. Patricia brought the baby home, but soon discovered that the child already had a family. Realizing this was her chance to claim autonomy over her life, she gave the baby up.

Rainey writes back to Patricia. In her letter, she details her life in the years following the war. She tries to convey the complex nature of her relationship with Charlene in particular. Although years have passed since Charlene’s death, Rainey still mourns the loss of her mother.

Both Rainey and Patricia conclude their letters to one another by summarizing their most complicated experiences. In Patricia’s final letter, she notes similarities between herself and Rainey. She has realized that they both chose passivity throughout their lives, because they wanted to be loved, protected, and cared for.