Pittsburgh

The novel is mostly set in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Grady teaches at an unnamed college in Pittsburgh and lives nearby. The Gaskells live near the college as well and sometimes host receptions for writers and students at their home. The narrative largely focuses on Grady’s various misadventures over the period of a weekend during the college’s annual literature festival.

McClelland Hotel and Coxley College

Grady grew up in a small, unnamed Pennsylvania town. After his parents died, he was raised by his grandmother, who owned and operated a hotel called the McClelland hotel. Albert Vetch was a resident of the hotel and eventually killed himself in his room. At the end of the novel, Grady returns to his hometown with Sara. Sara and Grady both acquire jobs at the nearby Coxley College and begin to raise their son together.

Kinship

At one point during...