Summary

In Chapter 1, set in 2009 with a focus on Nora, Nora had always worried about Patrick, her oldest son, now 50. One night she had been awoken by a ringing telephone. By the time she got to the hospital where he had been taken, he was already dead. The doctor told Nora that Patrick had been drinking and slammed his car into a concrete wall. Because the doctor said that Patrick was wearing his seatbelt, Nora believed he was not trying to kill himself. Nora did believe that when John, one of her other sons, had agreed to run Rory McClain’s campaign for state senate, that Patrick had changed. He and John had not spoken to each other since they had a fight at Maeve’s confirmation. As she left the hospital, Nora thought about her sister waking in peace at...