Summary

In Chapter 40, when she is alone in her room, Belinda lets everything out and cries. It is the night before the funeral, and she is not ready to give a eulogy. She takes out a pen and pad of paper, and instead of writing, she draws. She crumples up her paper and throws it across the room. She tries writing descriptions of Mary, but thinks that they are not good enough, are not true enough. She knows that she has to write something that Mary would have liked, and the chapter closes with her picking up the pen again, determined to succeed.

Chapter 41 begins with Aunty waking Belinda, giving her a dress to wear for the funeral. Aunty stops at the foot of Belinda’s bed, crying, and Belinda gets up and holds the woman’s hand and comforts her.

The family makes...