The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Diaz, Hernan. Trust. Riverhead Books, 2022.

While Hernan Diaz’s novel Trust, is written in both the past and present tense, the guide predominantly relies on the present tense for the purpose of clarity. The novel is divided into four separate books, “Bonds”, “My Life”, “A Memoir, Remembered”, and “Futures, that are written by four different, fictional, authors. The first book “Bonds” is written from a third person point of view by Howard Vanner, who is a distant acquaintance of the Bevels. He uses his limited memories of and fascination with the couple to create a fictionalized version of them called Benjamin and Helen Rask. In “Bonds”, Rask is a callous financier, who comes from money, and is singularly fixated on amassing a larger fortune. The character’s marriage to Helen is largely successful because they both enjoy solitude. After the stock market crash in 1929, Helen struggles to maintain her sanity and she is admitted into the sanitorium, Medico-Mechanic Institute. Benjamin initially trusts the lead doctor, Dr. Frahm, but is frustrated when the therapist will not divulge the contents of his sessions with Helen. He uses his financial clout to employ a new doctor, Dr. Aftus, who practices convulsion therapy. Under Dr. Aftus’s care, Helen suffers from heart failure and dies. Rask returns to New York and continues pursuing his financial endeavors.

In “My Life”, Andrew Bevel’s incomplete first person autobiography, the financier contests Vanner’s depiction of himself and Mildred. He uses the memoir to defend his involvement in the stock market crash of 1929 and asserts that Mildred never suffered from mental illness. In the preface he claims that his motivations, for writing the autobiography, are rooted in concern for Mildred’s public image but he infantilizes her throughout the text. When describing her musical interests, he describes her private concerts as little gatherings. Similarly, when recounting Mildred’s philanthropic endeavors, Bevel claims that he stepped in to help her manage her finances and ensured that she found monetary success.

The following book, “A Memoir, Remembered”, is written from the first person point of view by Ida Partenza. Ida decides to visit her former employer’s, Andrew Bevel’s, mansion when she learns that it has been converted into a museum, with public access to the Bevels’ personal documents. When she was in her early twenties, Ida worked as Bevel’s personal secretary to help him write his autobiography. She lived in Brooklyn with her father, a typesetter and anarchist, and applied to the job in order to pay off her family’s debts and claim personal autonomy. Ida developed a voice for Bevel that reflected his authority while ensuring not to villainize his financial pursuits. She was perplexed by his desire to patronize Mildred’s artistic endeavors and characterize her as a frail and childlike individual. After Bevel’s untimely death, Ida did not finish the book but continued to think about the Bevels and Mildred’s personal identity. At the museum, she discovers Mildred’s personal diary hidden within a ledger.

"Futures”, Mildred Bevel’s first person diary, recounts her days in the hospital preceding her death. While she is physically unable to take care of herself, Mildred uses the journal to claim a sense of independence. She confides in the diary that Andrew used her as a business advisor and relies on her knowledge to further his financial success. After she noticed a lag time in the stock market tickers, and noted it to Andrew, he exploited the technological foible to cause and profit off of the stock market crash.