60 pages • 2 hours read
Tim WintonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2 is entirely from Georgie’s perspective, opening with Georgie returning Beaver’s car and going home. She asks Jim how he knew about Lu, and Jim says it was speculation until she just confirmed it. Over his shoulder, he tells Georgie to call her sister because her mother has died.
Georgie recalls her childhood, especially her relationship with her mother. She sees herself as the black sheep, her mother impossible to please. Georgie is the oldest of four girls and is jealous of her sisters for their beauty. Her father left and married someone Georgie’s age—a slap in the face to the family.
She goes home to learn her mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage and was alone on the floor for 18 hours before being found. She cries with her sisters, who are all in designer clothing with fancy cars parked out front. These are blunt reminders of her aristocratic upbringing. While talking to her estranged father, she strips and falls into the swimming pool, lying on the bottom so she cannot hear her family speaking.
By Tim Winton