Chapter 8 Summary

Chapter eight, Ease, 1977, begins when Daisy is seventy-two years old and living in a retirement community in Florida. She receives regular visits from her "niece," Victoria, the child of Barker Flett's cousin, Beverly, who came to live with Daisy in Ottawa. Cousin Beverly has recently died, but Victoria has remained close with her Aunt Daisy and worries about her. In recent years, Daisy has spent much of her time reflecting on the lives - and deaths - of both her own father, Cuyler Goodwill, and her husband Barker's father, Magnus Flett.

There is a flashback to the day of Cuyler Goodwill's death, as he is lying in a field dying from an apparent prolonged heart attack. He is still married to Maria and has continued to build the pyramid in his backyard. Lying there that day, he reflects on his life and makes...