Absolution

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of pregnancy loss and death by suicide.

In April of 1963, Tricia is delighted to learn that she is pregnant. She stops visiting the hospital, making up a series of excuses to keep her pregnancy a secret. In early June, while getting ready to attend a dinner party, Tricia loses the pregnancy. Worried about the stigma surrounding pregnancy loss, Tricia hides the embryo and retires to bed while Peter goes on to the party. Hours later, Peter returns with a drunk military doctor who dismisses Tricia’s concerns outright.

When Charlene arrives several hours later, Tricia tells her about the pregnancy loss. Charlene comforts her and distracts her with stories. Minh-Linh, the Kellys’ cook, brings Tricia a small stone figure that Charlene identifies as Dizang, a Buddhist deity responsible for watching over the spirits of miscarried and stillborn children. Together, they bury the embryo under the statue. Charlene divulges that she has also lost a pregnancy in the past. Several weeks later, Tricia rejoins Charlene’s volunteer group.

Tricia recounts more about her relationship with Stella. Stella grew up in a large, rambunctious Irish Catholic family with six siblings.