Fellowship Point

The chapter opens with a letter from Maud, who is growing dissatisfied with her letter correspondence with Agnes and plans to visit, hoping to move the manuscript forward. Agnes reviews their exchange of letters, in which Maud insists that Agnes is withholding something important from the memoir. She wants to know more about the inspiration for the When Nan books.

Agnes and Polly meet at Polly’s place with a couple about the possibility of managing the land trust. During the conversation, Agnes decides that they aren’t the right people to manage it and makes an excuse about being tired to end the meeting. Afterward, she convinces Polly to enter the primary bedroom for the first time since Dick died.

Polly’s sons, along with their wives and children, arrive. One evening, the adults bring up the idea of Polly selling the house in Pennsylvania and moving into a facility. Polly wants none of it and, in response, brings up Agnes’s plan for the land trust. James still opposes the idea, stressing that Dick did as well.

After the conversation, Polly wants to take a walk, and Theo asks to join her. He urges her to do as she wishes with Meadowlea. Polly sees Lydia walking ahead of them and then asks Theo if he thinks of her. Theo assures her that he does and then notes that his daughter, Maddie, claimed she saw apparitions on the Point. That evening, Polly talks with Maddie, telling her that she too sees an apparition.

Maud bumps into her ex-boyfriend (Clemmie’s father), who invites her for a drink. She knows that it’s not wise to go given that Miles is still married, as he was when he was with Maud, but can’t help herself. Heidi is in a psychiatric hospital after a recent attempt to die by suicide. Over drinks with Miles, Maud is hostile and accusatory, insisting that Miles ended the relationship because of her pregnancy. Miles propositions her, but Maud leaves. The next day, she flies to Maine.

Sylvie and two of Polly’s other granddaughters pick up Maud at the airport and drive her to Fellowship Point. After she gets settled in her room, Sylvie takes her to meet Agnes. Maud wants to talk about the memoir, but Agnes suggests a walk. As they head to the Sank, they spot Polly, who joins them. Maud is immediately taken with the scenery, and Polly and Agnes explain the Point’s history.

Over the days that follow, Maud settles into a routine of rereading the manuscript and learning about the Point and its natural history. After a walk, she and Agnes discuss the memoir. One afternoon, Maud returns from a walk alone and picks up a missed phone call from her father: Heidi has again attempted to die by suicide and has been placed in restraints. The facility wants to begin electroshock treatments, which Maud opposes. She argues with her father, who has been insisting on moving her and Heidi out of the house in the city so that he and his wife can live there. Maud agrees to cut her trip short so that she can be with Heidi.

When she informs Agnes of her departure, Maud reveals that she has a daughter (Clemmie), whose existence she has kept a secret from Agnes. Agnes wants to know more about Heidi’s illness and suggests that Maud try the psychiatric hospital in Philadelphia for a second opinion.

On the morning of September 11, Agnes breaks from routine by having breakfast in the den with the television on. After seeing the footage of the World Trade Center attack, she rushes over to Polly’s, while Sylvie tries to call Maud. Polly is on the phone with James, who assures her that he’ll check on the rest of the family. Although she quickly learns everyone is safe, Polly fears that Philadelphia could be the next target. Agnes ridicules Polly for worrying, and the two bicker. Agnes prepares to leave and asks Polly about James’s thoughts on the land trust, certain that he means to stall so that Agnes passes away before any action is taken. The argument quickly escalates, as Polly accuses Agnes of being jealous of her large family and then of profiting from Nan’s death through her books.