Summary

Part 1 of the novel, which includes Chapters 1-9 is set in the years from 1953-1962.

In the Prologue, Nan MacNally listened as her husband, James MacNally, cried after the death of Charles Barrett. Nan knew that God could heal all wounds, but the death Charles was like an amputation for James. James and Charles had ministered together for 40 years. James no longer had anyone to help him understand how he had come to love someone so much that he could not bear his death. Nan wanted to call Lily, Charles’ wife, but she knew Lily would not answer, she would deal with her grief in the opposite way in which Nan would. Nan knew that Lily already understood the story of the four of them was finished.

In Chapter 1, Charles’ father was a Harvard professor. He did not believe leisure or...