Summary

The reader has not seen Hannah since she was an 11-year-old girl at the opening of the novel. Although the first half of the novel was titled "Leaving," Hannah has never left. She did not leave in her first chapter and she remained absent in the consciousnesses of her siblings in their chapters. Here, during the second part of the novel, "Coming Home," Hannah does come home, even though her trip is a short few hours across Ireland, from Dublin to County Clare.

This chapter opens with Hannah, now 37, bleeding on the floor of her kitchen. The narrative followed Hannah's drunken thoughts as she attempted to figure out how she came to be on the floor and where all of the blood was coming from. Eventually, her boyfriend, Hugh, found her and called for an ambulance. Despite her injuries, Hannah found herself happy to...