Boston, MA

The city of Boston functions as the backdrop for many of the novel's events, and is the primary location in "1910," "1938," and "2015." The decision to set the novel primarily in one city allows Wolfgang-Smith to gesture toward the rhythms of history and the generational differences that mark the lives of her various perspective characters. It further allows her to observe the shifts in industrial capitalist society; the stately, academic grandeur that Boston represents in the lives of Agnes and Ignace is a far cry from the corporate drudgery that Flip finds herself subjected to as she works her directionless job at Solid Memories. The city also contains several references to the concept of legacy, as later characters often find themselves surrounded by locations that bear the names of Agnes and Ignace, with whom the story of Glassworks begins.

New York City

New York City functions as the setting...