Fellowship Point

Agnes’s lifelong best friend, Polly Wister, is warm, caring, supportive, and good natured. She presents a positive attitude externally and is a doting wife and mother. Indeed, she regards her life’s role as being the helpmate and caretaker of Dick, her academic husband, and she places his needs and pursuits above her own. She’s so accustomed to this role that she literally drops whatever she’s doing when Dick summons her. Earlier in their marriage, Polly thought she might be able to connect with Dick on an intellectual level. Hoping to appeal to his passion for philosophy, she wrote an essay in which she mused about the notion of soulmates. Dick’s denouncement of her intellectual capability hurts Polly, but Agnes buoys her confidence by assuring Polly that her ideas are insightful. Thus, Polly sees Dick as incapable of considering her a thinking being.

Polly derives much of her self-worth from her identity as a mother, even insisting that she knew the instant that each of her children was conceived. She doted on them as babies, but as they grew felt them separating from her. She longs for a soulmate, someone who knows her mind intimately. Polly is certain that a daughter will fulfill this need and provide the companionship that her sons can’t. This seems to prove true when Polly’s daughter and youngest child, Lydia, is born; however, Lydia dies unexpectedly at age nine, creating a void in Polly’s life.

After Dick passes away, Polly misses him and continues to maintain a kind of relationship by carrying on conversations with him. In time, however, she recognizes the truth of Agnes’s assessment of Dick as self-centered and pompous. Polly loves him nonetheless but sees that she can now have a life of her own and determine her future. She begins to assert her wishes to her sons, refusing to allow them to place her in an assisted living facility and fighting to establish a land trust at Fellowship Point as Agnes wanted, despite her son James’s opinions against it. She and Agnes remain lifelong friends, and the strength of this friendship suggest that Agnes has served as Polly’s soulmate.

A young twenty-something living in Manhattan, Maud is inspired by the When Nan series, which has been a consistent presence throughout her life. She’s a driven and hardworking professional, determined to succeed in the publishing industry. She doesn’t take “no” for an answer, as is evident in her stubborn refusal to give up on the idea of Agnes Lee’s memoir. Her sense that Agnes, upon submitting drafts of the memoir, is holding something back indicates her insightfulness and keen understanding of human nature.

Likewise, Maud is dedicated to her family. She’s single-handedly raising a daughter while caring for her mother, who has a mental illness and severe depression. Although Maud values her career, she prioritizes Clemmie and Heidi above it, even rearranging her life when Heidi is placed in a hospital. Selfless and capable, Maud displays a maturity that Agnes instantly recognizes and is drawn to. As Maud befriends Agnes and Polly, she finds fulfillment and a sense of peace on Fellowship Point. Discovering that Heidi is Nan Reed adds another layer of meaning to Maud’s life because she can restore Heidi’s identity to her.

The novel portrays Robert Circumstance as both a young child and a middle-aged adult. As a child he’s kind and well-mannered, obedient and caring, as evident in his treatment of young Nan, guiding her and serving as not only a playmate but a caretaker. Agnes frequently comments to his mother on Robert’s intellectual capacity, urging Mrs. Circumstance to encourage him to pursue education rather than a life of service. Mrs. Circumstance, however, points to his skills as a potential gardener, which come to fruition later in Robert’s life.

As an adult, Robert is a skilled landscaper whose work is coveted. Agnes, Polly, and Dick all admire him and immediately defend him when he’s falsely accused of theft. Having known him all his life, they’re certain of his integrity, honesty, and ethical behavior. Likewise, Robert is humble, accepting his punishment, despite its injustice, with grace and resolve. The letters he exchanges with Dick, and later with Polly, are evidence of the insightful mind Agnes sensed in Robert when he was a child. Indeed, he’s a deep thinker with rich ideas. Upon his release from prison, he continues to demonstrate good stewardship by caring for the Point and kind neighborliness by helping Polly renovate the Rookerie.

A professor of philosophy, Dick Wister is Polly’s husband and is the center of her adult life. He’s confident in his intellectual abilities and certain that his contributions to academia and to his field are meaningful and superior. Agnes frequently portrays him as arrogant, pompous, and self-centered. His focus is entirely on his work and he regards Polly’s purpose as one of a helpmate in service to his endeavors. Indeed, his insistence that Polly’s ideas and thoughts are insignificant suggests misogyny. He’s formal and assertive in his interactions with her, and they share little emotional intimacy. At the end of his life, Dick’s mental capacities fade, and he becomes softer and nostalgic. Polly finds herself enjoying this version of Dick, with whom she’s able to talk and share parts of herself that he discouraged before.