This study guide was created using the following version of this book: McCracken, Elizabeth. The Souvenir Museum. Harper Collins. 2021.

The Souvenir Museum is a collection of 12 short stories that examine the lives of individuals as they come to terms with where they are in their lives.

In "The Irish Wedding," Jack and Sadie attend a wedding in Ireland where Sadie meets Jack’s family for the first time. While there, Sadie comes to understand the differences between her American culture and her husband’s British culture.

"Proof" follows David and his father Louis on a trip to Scotland after David’s mother dies. David wonders about his father’s failing memory and whether Louis really understands his son at all.

"It’s Not You" finds a woman staying the night in a hotel after a breakup. The woman befriends a radio talk show host and nearly drowns in the man’s hotel bathtub.

In "A Splinter," Lenny – a young Jack – travels to England and meets a woman he moves in with to learn ventriloquism. Lenny’s sisters travel to England to bring Lenny back home to the United States.

"In Mistress Mickle All at Sea," Jenny is an actress who plays a villain on a children’s show. Jenny considers her successes and failures as an actress, contemplates life and death, and meets a children’s performer who works on the ship Jenny is traveling on.

"Birdsong from the Radio" tells the story of Lenora, a woman who suffers from mental illness. Lenora lost her three children in a car accident when the nanny was driving them. To cope with her grief, Lenora eats loaves of challah. She imagines the loaves as her children in order to consume them. When Lenora is confronted by the father of the nanny, Lenora buys him a loaf of bread for his dead daughter.

In "The Get-Go," Sadie and Jack go to visit Sadie’s mother, Linda. Linda is very possessive of Sadie and struggles to accept Jack as part of Sadie’s life. When Sadie falls and dislocates her shoulder, Sadie contacts Jack because she does not want to worry Sadie.

"Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark" tells the story of two men and their adopted son traveling to a waterpark for vacation. While Ernest drinks at the bar, Bruno takes Cody on a water ride. Bruno contemplates his life before and after meeting Ernest and why he decided to have a child.

"In A Walk-Through Human Heart," Thea shops for a vintage doll called Baby Alive that is a battery-operated doll Thea’s pregnant daughter Georgia wanted when Georgia was a child. Thea reconciles how Georgia was able to beat the drug addiction of her youth, while thinking of Florence, a former friend who lost her son to a drug overdose.

"Two Sad Clowns" finds Jack and Sadie in a bar in Boston. They meet and begin a somewhat contentious conversation with Keith, a drunker patron at the bar. Jack and Sadie end up walking Keith home so that he gets home safely. They discover that Keith does not live the life of the sad drunk they were expecting.

"The Souvenir Museum" is the story of Joanna taking her son to Denmark in order to give Aksel, Joanna’s former partner, her deceased father’s pocket watch.

"Nothing, Darling, Only Darling, Darling" returns to Jack and Sadie. The couple are now married after many years together. They are in Amsterdam for their honeymoon when they learn of a death in the family.