Book Five, Eve and Alexandra 1950-1975: Chapters 23-26 Summary

Kate agrees to allow doctors to give Tony a lobotomy in order to cure him of psychotic thoughts. Tony will never again be able to leave the sanitarium. Kate raises his daughters, Eve and Alexandra. Eve is jealous of Alexandra and tries to kill her for the first time the night before their fifth birthday by lighting her nightgown on fire. Alexandra is only saved by the early arrival of the housekeeper. Over the years, Eve tries many times to kill Alexandra, leaving the adults around them with the impression that Alexandra is a clumsy child.

Kate is so convinced that Alexandra is too clumsy, too docile, that she begins to pin her hopes for the future of Kruger-Brent on Eve. Kate sends both girls to a boarding school...