Summary

In Chapter 15, unable to sleep, Alice wakes before dawn, reflects on her new miniature mosaic titled “Nicollet,” and wonders what—or whom—Margaret is seeking. She swings by the Grande Lucia and leaves Hayden a green tea cup with her phone number as a reply to his “Friends?” coffee cup note. Then, she walks to the beach for sunrise. The scene prompts a memory of switching from photography to writing during her sister Audrey’s childhood illness. She surmises that writing lets her move toward the core truth in a way that photos cannot. Later, on Margaret’s air boat in the marsh, Margaret sketches a timeline of the next generation of her family. Her father Frederick (“Freddy”) Ives (b. 1904) and Aunt Francine (b. 1905) grew up privileged in San Francisco while Gerald chased power. Ruth, the secret child of Gerald and Nina, was...