Evelyn Fazackerley

Evelyn Fazackerley is one of the main characters of the short story “A Woman’s Hand.” In the narrative present, Evelyn is in her sixties and married to Harold Fazackerley. Evelyn and Harold live in Australia but often spend their retirement traveling around together. Unlike her husband, Evelyn is a spirited, verbose, and outgoing individual. The narrator asserts that no one would mistake her “for a delicate woman” (5). Although she sometimes gets headaches, she has a strong constitution and “almost never suffer[s] from physical fatigue” (5). While Harold has trouble adjusting to retirement and never knows what to do with his free time, Evelyn can never find “enough on which to exercise her over-active mind” (5). She therefore thrives on new experiences and on gossip. When she and her husband run into Harold’s old friend Clem Downson, Evelyn immediately takes it upon herself to meddle in Clem...