Summary

XXV (191-199) — Lily’s narrative returns to the present. It is 1985 and she is an art history professor at a university. She returns home to her husband, Tim, and her daughter, Lucinda, who has moved back into her parent’s house after her recent breakup. Tim asks Lily about Evan’s retrospective exhibition and if she is planning on going. Lily is unsure but does not fully disclose why. She tells Tim that she had lunch with Bea today and Bea got upset with her about something from their past.

Lily retires to her study, where she rereads Eva’s letter and returns to her old notebooks. She remembers Heloise’s recent death and reflects on her life after the Eva and Jerome incident: a failed stint at art school, a failed marriage with Lucinda’s father, Stewart, and...