52 pages • 1 hour read
Alice Elliott DarkA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The novel introduces this theme in the first chapter as Agnes explains to Polly that she has been diagnosed with cancer and is preparing for surgery. Both women are elderly and keenly aware of their own mortality. Agnes, however, doesn’t fear the surgery or the illness, and the specter of cancer fades into the background, making rare appearances as the plot unfolds. Although in her eighties, Agnes is determined to continue living a full life. As a writer, she feels called to continue to work as long as she can and even publishes the final installment in her Franklin Square series. While she concedes to draft a memoir at Maud’s urging, she doesn’t publish it during the course of the novel. This may be because Agnes feels she still has life to live and thus has material to add to her life story.
Both Agnes and Polly continue growing and learning as they age. Agnes realizes that the best way to ensure stewardship of Fellowship Point is not to establish a land trust but to relinquish ownership to the Wabanaki people. Polly, too, reaches insights and realizations about her own capabilities and learns how to assert herself to her sons.
Aging
View Collection
Beauty
View Collection
Books & Literature
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Health & Medicine
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Mental Illness
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
National Suicide Prevention Month
View Collection
Popular Study Guides
View Collection
Science & Nature
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection