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Plot Summary with Spoilers:
(brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) Chapters 1-2. Veronica visits her mother's house with the news that her brother Liam committed suicide by drowning off the coast of Brighton, England. She despises her vague mother whose intelligence seems permanently impaired from having twelve children and seven miscarriages. Her dad died several years ago.
Chapter 3. Veronica imagines her grandmother Ada's story. In 1925, 19 year-old Ada and 23 year-old Nugent first meet in a Dublin hotel lobby: she's a seamstress and he's a bookie. Veronica adds that Ada later married Nugent's friend Charlie.
Chapter 4. She phones her siblings all over the world to summon them home for the funeral. Crying, she drives to the airport to fly to England to claim Liam's body.
Chapter 5. Veronica imagines Nugent and Ada in 1925, chatting in the Dublin hotel lobby. Charlie shows up to give Nugent a ride home to Nugent's small apartment.
Chapter 6. Since Liam's death, Veronica refuses to have sex with her husband. Though they love their two daughters, their marriage is on the rocks.
Chapter 7. Veronica gets to England and catches the train to Brighton.
Chapter 8. She remembers 1967 when she was eight and Liam was nine and they were sent with their little sister Kitty to live with their grandparents Ada and Charlie. Later Veronica realizes that their mother must have had a nervous breakdown.
Chapter 9. Veronica rides the train to Brighton and thinks about Liam's alcoholism.
Chapter 10. She imagines Ada and unreliable Charlie as newlyweds; Charlie, addicted to gambling, never had a steady job. She remembers Charlie's wake in 1967 when Ada required her, Liam, and Kitty to approach the open casket in the parlor to say goodbye as Nugent sat nearby, praying.
Chapter 11. Veronica remembers when she first met her husband Tom, stealing him from another woman.
Chapter 12. A likable British undertaker helps Veronica make arrangements for Liam's body. She remembers Liam never married nor even brought his girlfriends to meet the family.
Chapter 13. Veronica remembers wondering if grandmother Ada, orphaned young, was ever a prostitute. After Ada's funeral, the Hegarty girls were allowed to ransack her bedroom and fight over her trinkets.
Chapter 14. She remembers Frank Duff, a friend of Ada's. While in college, Veronica researched local prostitution, and discovered that in the 1920s Frank Duff worked with the Catholic organization Legion of Mary to save prostitutes from the streets.
Chapter 15. In 1967, Nugent kept some old cars in Ada's garage and stopped by often to tinker with them. Ada would invite him in for tea; he sometimes brought treats for Veronica, Liam, and Kitty.
Chapter 16. Veronica imagines Nugent, Charlie, and Ada betting at the horse races in 1925. Though Charlie is a gambling addict, Ada falls in love with him when she senses he wants her to win and Nugent wants her to lose. Both men intuit whom she's chosen.
Chapter 17. In 1967, Ada takes Veronica, Liam, and Kitty to St. Ita mental hospital. She leaves them outside while she visits her son (their uncle) Brendan.
Chapter 18. Self-destructive Liam drops out of college in his twenties.
Chapter 19. In 1967, summer ends and Ada enrolls Veronica, Liam, and Kitty at St. Dympna's, a school is named for a martyred princess murdered by her father for resisting his incestuous advances.
Chapters 20 - 21. Veronica imagines 51 year-old Nugent visiting 47 year-old Ada while Charlie is out gambling. Nugent wants sympathy for his bland little marriage and four bland children. Ada serves him tea. Veronica imagines their encounter ending two ways: with sex, and without sex.
Chapter 22. In 1967, Veronica walks in on Nugent forcing Liam to give him a hand-job.
Chapter 23. She thinks about her failing marriage.
Chapter 24. Veronica and sister Kitty fly home from England and drive past St. Ita mental hospital. Veronica brings up Uncle Brendan, but they barely remember him.
Chapter 25. She remembers their dad bringing home 16 year-old Liam whom he's bailed out of jail for an unexplained crime. Liam's face is bruised where the cops slapped him around, and Veronica makes it clear that he probably deserved punishment for whatever he did. Now Veronica feels guilt for her unsympathetic behavior. Ever since that night, their dad treated Liam with contempt. Now Veronica guesses Liam got arrested for something sexual involving another man. Again, she remembers what she repressed for so long: witnessing Nugent abusing nine year-old Liam.
Chapters 26 and 27. She thinks about her failing marriage.
Chapter 28. The Hegartys gather in Dublin during the ten days necessary for the British to send home Liam's body.
Chapter 29-36. With Liam's body in the front parlor, the Hegartys hold the wake. Their mother retreats to the bedroom. Veronica follows, asking if her mother remembers Nugent. Her mother claims in a matter-of-fact way that Nugent was their landlord.
Sudden revelation sweeps over Veronica, and she hurries off to find her mother's storage box of important papers. Inside are rent books from 1937 to 1975 (when Nugent died), confirming that he owned the house – probably because Charlie lost it to Nugent on a gambling debt.
Veronica realizes Nugent had power over Ada and probably wanted revenge for her choosing Charlie over him. Therefore, he sexually abused Ada, her children, and her grandchildren. Liam's suicide stems from this.
Chapter 37. The Hegartys attend the funeral service. One of Liam's old girlfriends shows up unexpectedly with a child obviously fathered by Liam. Thrilled, the Hegartys shower attention upon the boy.
Chapters 38 – 39. After the funeral, Veronica is able to make her peace with the past. She decides to try to save her marriage.
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