At age 23 Grace finds herself in a loveless marriage with
Gene. They live in a small beach town in
Maine reliant on the fishing industry and tourism. Grace has two small children, Claire and
Tom. When Grace was younger, she became
pregnant with Claire and Gene just returned from World War II had to marry
her. Tom her son was born shortly
afterward. She finds their lovemaking
unsatisfying and Gene unresponsive to her needs. Yet after a rough episode of lovemaking she
finds herself pregnant for the third time.
After his brutality in the marriage bed, he does not attempt to make love
to her again. Apart from her friendship
with her neighbor Rosie and her mother nearby she is lonely. Her deep friendship with Rosie, her warm
relationship with her mother, and the joy of her children keep her from
despair. When she confers with her
mother, Marjorie, Marjorie repeats the mantra of the generation that she must stay
with her spouse especially now that she has children. Gene had originally planned to attend
college, but those plans were dashed.
Gene’s wealthy mother does not like Grace and Grace assumes it was,
because they had to marry and Gene’s education plans were ruined. Gene works as a surveyor and they barely get
by on his salary. They own a small house
and a car, but there is nothing left for extras. Gene’s mother dies and they visit her very
large house overlooking the beach. Gene
wants to move there. Grace recalling how
uncomfortable her mother-in-law made her feel in the house does not want to
live there.
One
afternoon a fire starts on the outskirts of their town. Gene with other volunteers leaves to fight
the fire. Grace gathers her most precious
things like her documents, her photographs, some basic clothes for her and the
children and any mementos that she had planning to pack them in the children’s
carriage should she need to run from the fire.
She and Rosie with their children in tow plan to run together if
necessary. Neither has a car nor can
drive. As night falls suddenly the wind shifts and quickly the fire threatens
their survival. She warns Rosie and together with their children they run
toward the coast believing the fire will not travel to the beach. In their
haste they leave all the items packed in the baby buggies and run with their
children and a couple of blankets. They wet the blankets and cover themselves
and their children. However, when the
fire threatens their very survival even on the beach, Claire instructs Rosie to
follow her into the water where they dig themselves into the sand placing a
child under each arm in a hole dug just for the child. They cover themselves with the wet
blankets. It is fall and the water is
freezing cold, but there they stay.
Claire thinks they will die there if not from the fire then from
hypothermia. She sees the fire has
destroyed all the houses including hers and Rosie’s set two blocks from the
beach. There is nothing but ash and
charred wood as far as she can see. She
believes she and her children as well as Rosie and her children will die
there. She has no idea what became of
her mother. Neither of them had
telephones. Suddenly when she is filled
with despair and has lost all hope, a truck comes by and rescues her and the
children. She does not know what has
become of Rosie. Her legs are so cold
that she cannot stand and they must lift her into the truck. A man named Mathew takes her and the children
to his own home where he and his childless wife nurse and care for them until
they regain their health. Gene has not
come for her. He has not contacted
her. She and Mathew make the rounds of
all the Red Cross lists of people still looking for loved ones. They do not find Gene on the list. After a few weeks she moves in with her
mother and two neighbors, Gladys and Evelyn who live together. It is obvious to Grace and Marjorie that they
are lesbians.
Realizing they must find a place of their own and not having
any money, Grace and her mother decide to move into Merle’s house. Merle is Grace’s deceased mother-in-law.
When
Grace first inspected the house she found a concert pianist playing music on
the 3rd floor. His name is
Aiden Berne. She asked him to move the piano which was Genes down to the 1st
floor and live in the study where there was a single bed. He agreed to pay
rent. Grace, her mother and the children
moved into the spacious house with the pianist and enjoy the beautiful music he
played every day. Grace discovers her mother-in-law’s many valuable jewels
secreted in the hems and seams of her clothes.
She sells some of it for living expense money and money to buy a
car. Aiden treats Grace with kindness
and respect and they fall for each other.
On the night before he leaves to take an engagement in Boston, they make
love. For the first time Grace
experiences a satisfying lovemaking experience.
They are both sad when he leaves.
Realizing
that she needs an income Grace takes a job working for Dr. Lighthouse, the new
young doctor in town. He helps her buy a
car. She learns to drive and becomes
independent. There has been no sign of
Gene for two months and she believes him to be dead. Dr. Lighthouse too is kind and
solicitous. He is grateful for the work
she does straightening up his office and doing triage with the patients. She helps him find an apartment and create an
organized filing system. He compliments
her on her work and unlike Gene is grateful for her presence in his life.
Gene
has been gone for three months. Now that
Grace has assumed Gene is dead, he suddenly reappears. He is horribly burned and missing his left
arm and eye. He is in terrible
pain. Because he was in a coma for three
months he could not notify her that he was alive. When his arm became gangrenous, it was
amputated. He is angry and nasty. Dr. Lighthouse visits and prescribes PT.
among other things. Amy, the nurse in
his office, comes by to teach Grace and Gene the PT exercises. Grace must force Gene to do them. Gene
becomes abusive especially during the exercises. Finally she hires a nurse who though
assertive lasts only one day before walking out when Gene spits on her. Grace is left alone with Gene. Finally her mother leaves and she is alone
with the children and Gene. Gene does
not know she was working and she cannot tell him. Not even her work can offer an escape.
Gene
becomes even more abusive with some of it becoming violently physical and
sexual. At this point Grace realizes she must leave him b/c it is dangerous for
her and her children to remain in the house with him. She sleeps in her children’s room and locks
the door from the inside to protect them and herself from him. Some of it is because of the pain and
disfigurement, but some of it is because he resents her for his lot in
life. He sabotages the Buick she bought
and then directs the garage that fixed it to sell it unbeknownst to her. She realizes she must leave him. She gathers all her mother-in-law’s jewelry
and takes it into town to sell. There is
quite a lot of valuable jewelry. She
buys a used Ford with a small portion of the money and heads North to Nova
Scotia, because that is where Rosie and her family have taken up residence. Before she leaves she hires a live in nurse
to arrive the morning she plans to leave.
On a
girl’s trip to Halifax for a long weekend, the ladies notice that Aiden is
playing in a concert, and they attend it. Aiden sees her at the back of the
stage door where she, Rosie and other autograph seekers are waiting for him to
walk out. He notices Grace at once and parts the crowd to get to her. He kisses her and grabs her hand. They go to dinner as Rosie begs off with a
headache. The novel ends as it is clear
to the reader that they will end up together.
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