Summary

Chapter four opens with Eleanor, whose perspective the chapter centers on, taking her daughter Irina to the town’s café after picking up some books at the library. When they ordered drinks, Irina ordered coffee, surprising Eleanor, who did not know Irina had tried coffee before in her father’s studio. This revelation leads Eleanor to ponder what Karl does in his studio.

Thoughts of Karl’s art shift her focus to her struggles with her own art: her writing. Her agent, Craig, has been eagerly awaiting more chapters from her upcoming novel, which since the move she has been having trouble producing. Eleanor reminisces about her relationship with Craig when she was twenty-three and he was forty. They have continued to work together even after he ended the relationship, and has helped her publish what she calls “literary chick lit” ever since.

Irina...