Content Warning: This section discusses an eating disorder, sexual assault, and child loss in the novel.

“Up ahead, whitewash glared from a building with a pointed roof and a cross on top, which meant a Roman Catholic chapel. Only when the driver reined it in did Lib realize that they’d arrived at the village, although by English standards it was no more than a sorry-looking cluster of buildings.”

This passage illustrates the prominence of Catholicism in rural Irish life: The white walls of the church stand out and are the only sign of brightness in this damp, dark village. The reference to English standards highlights the differences and tensions between the Irish and English visitors, like Lib and the colonial government.

“Lib was always shy of introducing the great lady’s name into conversation and loathed the whimsical title that had come to be attached to all those Miss N. had trained, as if they were dolls cast in her heroic mold. ‘Yes, I had the honor of serving under her at Scutari.’”

This is the novel’s first reference to Florence Nightingale, the famous English nurse, and Scutari, the wartime hospital where she worked. Wright’s experience working under Nightingale at Scutari got her the position in Athlone, and is eventually revealed as a source of significant trauma. The above passage contains a simile; Nightingale’s nurses are compared with “dolls cast in [Nightingale’s] heroic mold.” Dolls are placid and inanimate, suggesting that Nightingale’s nurses are obedient and deferential to their training. Over the course of the novel, Wright will break away from this.

“Did they think to buy the endorsement, the combined reputability, of a Sister of Mercy and a Nightingale?”

Both Sister Michael and Wright belong to orders of women known for their service in healthcare: the Sisters of Mercy and the Nightingale nurses, respectively. Wright resents the fact that they have been hired to add legitimacy to Anna’s claims through their reputation, rather than their merits.