68 pages • 2 hours read
David BaldacciA Calamity of Souls
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses racism, racist violence, ableist discrimination, domestic violence, and sexual assault as depicted in the novel. The work itself uses outdated racist slang while obscuring the use of racist slurs; this guide includes such language in direct quotes only.
In Freeman County, Virginia, in 1968, an elderly white couple is dead in their home. The husband is sprawled across the floor, while his wife’s body lays across a chair.
Two white officers—Raymond Leroy and Gene Taliaferro —have a Black man in handcuffs on the floor, referred to as “the only suspect in the room” (1). Raymond struggles to read him his Miranda Rights off an index card, a new policy recently enacted in the police force. The idea of reading them annoys both Raymond and Gene, who are bothered by the idea of criminals getting representation, especially “those people, who had committed crimes, usually against white folks” (2).
Gene interrupts Raymond to hit the suspect with his club. He forces the suspect to lie down, then hits him again, then forces him to kneel again. Gene goads the suspect into getting angry by asking him about his wife and family. When the suspect reacts with rage, struggling against his handcuffs, Gene is excited that he can now claim the suspect was “resistin’ arrest” and raises his club to beat him.
Chapter 2 Summary
John “Jack” Robert Lee is a lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia. He is white, single, and grew up in a working-class home, with a love of books and debate.
He arrives at his parents’ home to celebrate his 33rd birthday. He is greeted by his older sister, Lucy. She is 37. Due to their mother’s exposure to nitrous oxide at the dentist while pregnant, she is developmentally disabled.
Chapter 3 Summary
Jack’s mother, Hilda “Hilly” Lee,” has always cared for her home and children while her husband works. She harbors some guilt over what happened to Lucy and chose to have Jack and his younger brother, Jefferson, without any pain killers—even aspirin. She refers to Jack as “Robert,” insisting that she would have named him Robert E. Lee if her husband did not have a say.
Despite naming her son after a Confederate general, she still tells Jack how upset she is about the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Jack finds it “bewildering” that she respects Lee while mourning King and Kennedy, who “held views diametrically opposed to all the Confederacy had stood for” (12).
Hilly tells Jack that Miss Jessup was by earlier looking for him. Miss Jessup is one of the only Black women in the area. She is a housemaid to Ashby, a wealthy, retired lawyer who lives down the street.
Chapter 4 Summary
Jack remembers Miss Jessup from when he was younger. When he delivered newspapers as a young boy, he would often see her getting off the back of the bus or at Ashby’s house, and would give her a paper when he had extras.
About three months ago, he remembers seeing her getting off the bus while visiting his parents. She is now legally allowed to ride anywhere she wants on the bus and used the main door. The driver closed it so fast, it clipped Miss Jessup. Jack thinks of the incident and the fact that laws may change, but the people who need to follow them are much more stubborn.
Chapter 5 Summary
Jack’s father, Francis “Frank” Lee, is a union mechanic. He is a handyman around their home, as well as for neighbors who pay him to fix their cars and other belongings on the side.
In the garage after dinner, he speaks with Jack about his sister. He tells Jack that Lucy will become Jack’s responsibility when Frank and Hilly are no longer able to care for her. Jack agrees that “if [he] can take care of her [he] will” (23).
Jack agrees that he is curious about what Miss Jessup wanted. To Jack’s surprise, Frank knows where she lives and offers to take him to her home. Frank reveals that he has been giving Miss Jessup rides home from work when the bus refuses to stop for her, as one of the drivers is a “maggot.”
Chapter 6 Summary
Frank drives Jack to Miss Jessup’s home. It is in Carter City, in the southeastern part of Freeman County. Jack notes how the county is roughly divided vertically, with the “white side” located in the west and the “Black side” in the east, with McHenry River dividing the two (25). Jack is unsurprised that his father brings along his gun.
At Miss Jessup’s, two men sit on the front porch. They question why they are there and border on hostile. Frank puts his hand on the gun hidden in the back of his jeans. Miss Jessup comes out and scolds the two men, inviting Jack and Frank in.
Chapter 7 Summary
Inside Miss Jessup’s home, Miss Jessup tells Jack and Frank that her granddaughter’s husband, Jerome, was arrested for murdering a white couple. They were from Madison Heights, the wealthiest part of Freeman County. Jack tries to ask her for more information about the case, but she insists that he see Jerome in prison.
Jack tells Miss Jessup that he cannot do it for free. She implies that she will clean, cook, and do laundry for him as partial payment since he has no wife to do it for him.
Chapter 8 Summary
As Jack makes his way through security and to Jerome’s cell, the first guard makes a joke about Jerome needing a “miracle,” while the second jokes about his last name, Washington. They inform Jack that Jerome has been arraigned, charged, and is being held with no bail.
Chapter 9 Summary
Jack meets Jerome in his cell. Jerome is initially hesitant to talk to Jack, nervous that Jack may be trying to trick him into talking for the police.
Jack asks Jerome about the bruises covering his body, and Jerome tells him about being beaten by the police. Jerome has a limp, and tells Jack that it’s from when he fought in the Vietnam War for two years.
Jack learns that Jerome is accused of killing Leslie and Anne Randolph, one of the wealthiest couples in the area. Jerome did work for them each day, and on Friday when he went in to collect his pay, he found them dead. The police walked in as Jerome was placing Anne on the chair, not wanting her to remain on the ground. Jerome admits that he knows little about what happened after his arrest, as he largely did not understand what he was being told in court or by his court-appointed attorney, George Connelly.
Jack tells Jerome that he will take his case, but that it will likely cost around $250. Jerome hesitates, but then agrees and tells Jack to speak with Pearl about the money.
Chapter 10 Summary
Jack lies in bed that night, unable to sleep as he thinks about Jerome. He thinks of how his “upbringing” had allowed him to see that segregation and the way Black people were treated was wrong. Even though his mom supports segregation, she had always taught him to treat everyone equally, as she herself had fed and treated the injuries of Black men who worked with her husband. Additionally, Jack thinks of how important reading was to him as he learned about history, especially slavery and the Civil War, which were not fully taught in Virginia. He learned through reading, largely with his mother’s guidance.
Despite his upbringing and his belief in equality, Jack also realizes that he has never done anything to stand up for his beliefs. He never spoke out against segregation or racism, largely choosing to ignore it. He thinks of how he is not a “risk-taker” and decides someone else would be better off taking Jerome’s case.
However, just as he is deciding this, the phone in his office rings. The man on the other line yells “N--- lover” into the phone before hanging up (58). Enraged, Jack thinks back to when he was a child and he and Jefferson used to get bullied. After Jack’s father had gone to the bullies, the boys had taken it out on Jack. His mother insisted that he stand up for himself, and he punched one of the boys in the face—which led to the bullies leaving him and Jefferson alone. Thinking back on this, he decides that he is going to take Jerome’s case.
Chapters 1-10 Analysis
The setting of the novel plays a pivotal role. Set in the South in 1968, the country is on the verge of moving forward with the end of Jim Crow and segregation, while people throughout the South fight against this. The novel discusses the death of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as the impending presidential election as important moments in history that will decide the future.
Jack battles with Overcoming Personal Bias. He has grown up in the South with a mother who encourages segregation, and up until the novel’s events, has not fought against racism or done something meaningful with his law degree. He struggles with his lack of action, and contemplates whether the danger that will surround the trial is worth it. He recognizes his own bias, and doesn’t yet see racism as an important enough cause to risk his safety. However, when he is confronted with violence on taking Jerome’s case, it has the opposite of its intended effect: Instead of discouraging him from defending Jerome, the violence shows him that he has ignored the problem of racism for too long.
Jack’s mother, Hilly, represents a vast number of white people throughout the South. She is complex: She helps Black people in need but also adamantly believes in segregation. This reflects the beliefs that many people hold throughout the novel. Although she does not believe herself to be racist and feels sympathy for Black people, she still exhibits racist biases and does not want to go against the status quo. Like Jack, she battles with her own personal bias and reflects on whether change is truly needed.
This section begins to examine Racial Injustice and the Legal System. The text reveals the limits that the legal system has when placed in the hands of racist people. Despite what the law says, people continue to perpetuate racism, both directly and indirectly. This reveals that the law struggles without the support of its people.
David Baldacci raises the stakes surrounding the trial to build suspense. For example, after registering himself as Jerome’s lawyer, Jack receives a frightening phone call. The call reinforces his belief that he is doing the right thing using his legal skills, and that he is fighting back against injustice. It foreshadows the danger that will surround the case for both Jack and the people in his life.
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