Bob Burgess

Bob Burgess is the main character of the novel. In the narrative present he is 65 years old and “liv[ing] in the town of Crosby, Maine” (3). He has been married to Margaret Estaver for 15 years. After they married, Bob gave up his full time job as “a lawyer in New York City” to move back to Maine where he grew up (5). He and Margaret have lived in the center of town together ever since. Bob occasionally takes on “criminal cases in Shirley Falls” where he has an office, but is “mostly retired by now” (5). Bob was married one time before his relationship with Margaret. He loved his first wife, Pam, and they have stayed in contact and remained close since their divorce 25 years prior. In the narrative present, Bob often feels lonely and despondent. He lives under the shadow of his childhood trauma. Convinced that he was...