Chapter 3 Summary

Amal is obsessed by Anna's brown journal and wants to reconstruct Anna's London years (1898-99). When Anna's husband, Edward, returns from a dishonest war in Sudan not himself, she tries in vain to engage him, and for relief, visits the South Kensington Museum to admire Frederick Lewis' luminous Oriental paintings. Anna reproaches her self-pity while Edward is in the grip of evil, and contrasts her father's proud service in the conquest of Egypt. Sir Charles has denounced the Sudan Convention as the ruin of the Empire. Stories of continuing atrocities there suggest why Edward is losing mind and soul. Daily he grows weaker and more feverish until he dies.

Chapter 3 Analysis

Anna's journal depicts the horror of being slowly widowed by an extreme case of what would today be called post-traumatic stress syndrome. Her war hero father-in-law has grown intensely and vocally anti-war...