The Christie Affair

This section opens with another turning point in Nan’s journey: the death of her sister Colleen. Had she lived, would Nan have handled her own circumstance differently? It is this tragedy that provides Nan with means of escape later, the emergency fund gathered by her mother and sisters. We also see the moment where Nan and Finbarr finally come together—their young, carefree love is a stark contrast to the Machiavellian sexual encounters Nan has with Archie, which are based not on love but ulterior motives. Though much about the two situations is the same, we see two different sides to the way Nan approaches relationships.

In “The Disappearance,” we are introduced to the mixed-race couple Mr. and Mrs. Leech. Although Mrs. Leech is not a central character in the novel, she shows us someone who was able to fight successfully for love and a place in the world as Nan and her sisters were unable to do. The chapter briefly touches upon Chilton’s relationship with his mother and how he stays brave and alive for her after she took care of him for so many years. This thread of motherhood runs through every aspect of the story. Nan also compares her quiet disappearance to the media frenzy surrounding Agatha’s —again a study in contrast between the two women and the two time periods.

As Archie spirals through his memories and imaginings, he finds himself in his daughter’s room putting her to bed. As we are still in Nan’s perspective, we are forced to wonder if this is her imagination, filling in a relationship between her supposed daughter and future husband, or some reality she has cobbled together from disparate parts. In Harrogate, Nan begins meeting the characters that she will revolve around for the next week: Mrs. Marston, Lizzie, and Mrs. Race. Clues are sprinkled as to their true identities; Nan compliments Mrs. Race “warmly enough for Lizzie herself to take it as a compliment” (111), even though the women have allegedly never met. Nan questions Lizzie about her husband—not for the benefit of prying ears but as a true inquiry to an old friend: “Away from the gaze of our fellow guests she slipped her arm through mine as if we were old friends” (112).

Later, Nan, Lizzie, and Mrs. Marston share time in the baths, and the reader can see hints of their history rising through their conversation. Mrs. Marston and Lizzie disagree on the character-building properties of pain and trauma; in their experience, of course, the Marstons were the ones inflicting traumas on Lizzie. They speak of Lizzie’s lost child, while Mrs. Marston remains oblivious of the dramatic irony.