Held

As the narrative shifts to 1984, Peter, Mara, and Alan are living idyllically in Suffolk. Alan savors all of the history of Mara’s childhood home, taking in its “haunted” agglomeration of the family’s warm and storied past: its books, bric-a-brac, crochet, and paintings by a friend named Sandor. Most of all, he cherishes the peace that has come from their mutual desire to build a life far from the horror of war zones and bombed cities. He almost takes solace in the futility of his past journalistic endeavors to bear witness to the unbearable—an effort that he has now abandoned. Mara, however, struggles to adjust to England’s land of plenty, in which her hospital coworkers all seem trivial and spoiled and the comforts, privileges, and safety of English life seem undeserved and even immoral. 

One day, the leader of Mara’s old team of international aid workers asks her to briefly return to service. Although she is four months pregnant, she agrees to go back into the field for two or three weeks until a colleague can replace her. Alan is devastated but supports her decision. At the airport, he and Peter, both of them fearful and heartbroken, give her a long, anguished embrace.