Tommy Guptil

Once a dairy farmer and then a janitor at a local school, Tommy Guptill is an elderly man by the time the novel begins. He is not a man who believes in regrets, but he did believe that the tragedy of his dairy farm burning to the ground was a sign from God about what in his life was important. He is a caring husband and father, and as a janitor, he took an interest in the kids at the school, going as far as to leave a quarter for Lucy Barton, who came from an extremely poor family. He is a man haunted by memory. Every stop sign or chance meeting will send his mind into the past, and he will remember seemingly insignificant events. In part, these events seem insignificant, because he often does not look directly at unpleasant topics. Instead, he thinks around them...