40 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren GroffA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
An adult Bit paints a mural of Arcadia in his three-year-old daughter Grete’s room. Handy’s son Leif now owns Arcadia, with Arcadia House having been turned into a modern workspace. Bit tells Grete fairy tales of her mother Helle’s name. Sometime after leaving Arcadia, he married Helle, but she left their family without saying goodbye; in the meantime, his neighbor Sharon helps watch Grete. Bit works as a photography professor, but is unmoored by Helle’s absence. When she disappeared, he visited her parents. Handy is still a musician and married to his fourth wife, and main wife Astrid is still a midwife; neither had spoken to Helle in a week. Bit’s best friend Jincy lives in the suburbs with a new baby, and hadn’t heard from Helle either. In Helle’s 20s, she battled drug abuse; her brother Ike died of AIDS. Hannah and Abe recently separated, because Abe spent their life savings building a house on the outskirts of Arcadia in protest against Leif’s corporatization. Hannah was so angry that she couldn’t be of much comfort to Bit when Helle left.
Now, nine months later, women from Arcadia call Bit regularly.
By Lauren Groff
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Childhood & Youth
View Collection
Coming-of-Age Journeys
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Earth Day
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Forgiveness
View Collection
Nature Versus Nurture
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection