Fifty-Pound Note

Fifty pounds are given to the narrator’s mother by the narrator’s father before he leaves the family following the successful conclusion of the narrator’s brother’s chemotherapy. The fifty pound-note represents the strongest memory that the narrator and her brother have of their father between his leaving and his death later in the novel.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a treatment for cancer that seeks to use radiation to destroy the cancerous cells. The narrator’s brother undergoes chemotherapy and surgery successfully while very young to beat his cancer into remission. But later in the novel, when his cancer returns, chemotherapy is ineffective for the brother.

Rosaries

Rosaries are strings or chains of beads and crucifixes used for prayer in the Catholic faith. Each bead represents the recitation of a prayer, and rosaries are often prayed in groups. In the novel, the narrator’s...