Summary

In Chapter 25, a young man named Patrick Kelly visited Shakespeare and Company. Both Sylvia and Adrienne knew that James Joyce had hired him to harass Sylvia into ceding her rights to publish Ulysses, by visiting the shop to badger her. She was frustrated by the petulant young man but more emotionally distraught that her relationship with Joyce and her relationship with Ulysses were at odds with one another. She knew that she would face a crushing loss whether she continued to hold onto the publication rights or ceded to the author’s demands.

In Chapter 26, Shakespeare and Company began to prosper after Sylvia sold her publication rights to Ulysses and focused her attention on the bookstore. While the store was thriving, Sylvia felt waylaid by the strain in her relationship with Adrienne. She knew that they needed different things to prosper; she...