Nora pictured her, in full black habit — did they even wear those anymore? She would wake up this morning at that tranquil country abbey, free from all attachment, free from heartache, even though she had been the one to set the thing in motion.
-- Narrator (Part 1: Chapter 1)

Importance: As Nora thinks about what her sister, Patrick’s biological mother, is doing on the day after Patrick’s death, she does not quite have the details of Nora’s life correct. Nora imagines her sister went to the convent in order to escape from her troubles. In reality, Theresa had to struggle through the many wrongs she felt she had done in order to achieve any sort of peace.

Charlie had said you could make yourself over in America, leave behind all that you didn’t like. Yet here she was, not yet to the front gate, and already it was clear that Nora was...
-- Narrator (Part 2: Chapter 2)