Black-Treacle Flapjack

Marianne uses her mother’s recipe to make black-treacle flapjack to bring to her gravesite during the Wakes. Making the recipe is one of the ways she has found to feel close to her mother and recreate the physical sensation, and taste, of what life with her mother felt like.

Cuffs

Marianne’s mother knitted her special sweaters to wear to school. The sweaters were colorful and had beads around the cuff. At the time, Marianne disliked wearing the sweaters because they marked her as different from the other children and contributed to her feelings of being an outsider. When Marianne broke off some of the beads she felt proud of herself initially before the cuffs served as a reminder that her mother would not be coming back or knitting for her again.

Angels

Angels are symbolic of protection and comfort in the novel. Marianne...