52 pages • 1 hour read
Dolly AldertonGhosts
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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, Chapters 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary
Nina and Lola attend Lucy’s hen do, or bachelorette party, which is held in Surrey, and Nina says that single women are revered guests at hen dos because of their perceived lack of attachments and responsibility. Lola is in a new relationship with a man named Andreas, but she worries that he is also seeing other women because he’s online all day. On the train ride into the country, Lola obsessively checks WhatsApp, tracking Andreas’s online activity. Nina encourages her to stop stalking him and instead tell him face-to-face that she wants to be in an exclusive relationship. Seeing a family enter the train makes Nina think about Max. She recounts the last few months in her mind and how lonely it was to spend the holidays without him. Max is always on her mind, and everything reminds her of him.
Lucy’s maid of honor, Franny, greets Lola and Nina. They are the only single women out of the 25 in attendance, which makes them feel out of place. Franny has a rigid schedule of events, and they spend the afternoon making collages that represent Lucy’s personality. The activity is awkward and silly, and Lola and Nina are tipsy when it comes time to present their collage. When Lucy’s friend Ruth presents her collage, it includes Joe and Lucy’s nicknames for each other, “Badger” and “Horse,” which they gave to each another on their “monthaversary.” Nina is hurt that Joe never bothered to remember their anniversary. She wonders to herself what power women like Lucy have over men that they can so easily get them to commit.
Franny starts the “knicker game,” a drinking game in which the “hen,” Lucy, has to guess who each lingerie gift is from. Intermittently, Franny reads excerpts from a book called How to Please Your Husband!, an outdated instructional manual for women from the 1970s that most women now read as a joke. The book instructs women to keep a clean home and happily greet their husbands each day when they return home, hide all evidence of their menstrual cycle, and never discuss their problems with their husbands, confiding in friends instead. The entire exercise makes Nina sad, and she excuses herself to be alone. Lola tracks Andreas on WhatsApp again while Nina explains that she isn’t ashamed of being single, but she misses Max.
At dinner, Lola and Nina struggle through awkward conversations with married women, two of whom are pregnant, who keep trying to give them dating advice. Nina tells them about Max ghosting her. One woman, Claire, tells them that the real secret to keeping a man is to “show him what he’s missing” (185). Later, Lola admits that she thinks Claire is right, but Nina disagrees. Lola says that she wants to be loved.
On the train ride home, Lola describes her fantasy hen do weekend. Nina realizes that despite Lola’s progressive facade, she wants all the traditional elements of marriage from the proposal to the wedding. Lola tells Nina a story for their Schadenfreude Shelf about her cousin’s friend, who didn’t get married until her thirties and died shortly after from cancer. Later, thankful to be alone in her apartment, Nina hears Angelo’s loud music. She prepares to file a noise complaint, but the music stops just before 11:00 pm and she knows that Angelo is messing with her on purpose.
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
Nina takes Bill to see a Picasso exhibition and she notices that he appears more lucid than ever inside the art gallery. As they look at the paintings, he gives her a detailed history of Picasso’s controversial love life without missing a beat. However, when they leave the art gallery and enter the crowded city, Bill looks lost and confused. They eat at his favorite Hungarian bakery, but Bill is distracted by three women he is convinced are the Mitford sisters. A man named Arthur approaches their table and explains that he is a former student and that Mr. Dean helped him get into Oxford. Arthur says that former students have created a Facebook group to share their favorite memories from his class. Still distracted by the women, Bill barely speaks to Arthur, but Nina carries the conversation for him.
Nancy gives Gwen an update on Bill’s condition and explains that he is waking during the night, which is common for people with dementia, and that he is marking papers throughout the house as if he is grading them. After Gwen leaves, Nancy talks with Nina about Max’s ghosting. Nancy proclaims that social media has changed relationships for the worse because people have no loyalty to one another anymore. When Nina exclaims that love shouldn’t be so much work, Nancy, looking toward Bill, says, “A lot of love is about duty” (199). Nancy is going to church more; she doesn’t necessarily believe in God, but she enjoys the social scene. Before leaving, Nina asks her parents what is the most annoying song they’ve ever heard, and they both agree that it’s the Annie soundtrack.
Nina borrows Joe’s large speakers, sets them up in her living room, and turns on the Annie soundtrack at full volume before taking Alma out to dinner. They return home just before 11, and Angelo is waiting for her angrily, shouting that she can’t leave music playing while she’s out. The two have a heated argument, and Nina blames Angelo for starting the feud. Later, she wishes that Joe was there so he could celebrate her victory. She misses how much Joe always had her back. Though she knows she is capable of taking care of herself, she feels lonely. She thinks of Max most at night and wonders if he does the same. She hopes that they’ll meet again in her dreams.
Part 2 Chapter 13 Summary
The night before Joe’s wedding, all the ushers, including Nina, get drunk together. The next morning, Nina helps a very hungover Joe get dressed for the wedding and they share a hug; Nina is truly happy for him. During the ceremony, Nina watches as all their college friends arrive. Lola is dressed in a flashy orange strapless dress and cape. Katherine looks radiantly pregnant in a yellow gown, and Dan and Gethin arrive with their baby daughter, looking tired but very happy. Lucy follows her 14 bridesmaids down the aisle looking stunning in a classic gown. Nina gets teary thinking about how she truly does want to get married, and how her father likely won’t live to attend.
At the reception, Nina explains to Lola how much easier it is to be an usher than a bridesmaid. Nina holds Meera’s son Finlay and delights in his baby softness. Katherine is alone because Mark is smoking pot in the parking lot with Meera’s husband, Eddie. Lola spots Andreas’s parents in the crowd and plans to introduce herself to them though no one agrees it’s a good idea. Nina hands Finlay to Lola and notices when Katherine says, “You’re a natural” to Lola (215), which she never says to her. Franny gathers all the married and engaged women for a group photo, and Lola and Nina roll their eyes at being left out once again.
Lola and Nina, who are always paired as a couple, sit with Meera and Eddie, Katherine and Mark, and Franny and Hugo. Both Mark and Eddie are drunk, and Eddie explains that the reason there are so many single women in their thirties is because Tony Blair encouraged them to go to college, and men are intimidated by overly educated women. Lola disappears and Nina sees her speaking to Andreas’s parents. Franny asks everyone at the table to share their “love language” and the women engage in a lively conversation while the men stare at their phones. Lola returns but doesn’t feel any better after meeting Andreas’s parents. Nina and Hugo argue over the impossibility of someone being socially liberal but fiscally conservative. Nina notices that Katherine, who hates talking politics, is covertly drinking wine. Meanwhile, Lola, who recently went to a speed dating party, bemoans her waning fertility to Eddie, wishing that she could buy herself more time to find love.
After Lucy’s father gives his speech and gifts the couple a new Audi, Joe delivers a touching speech and shares a story from the night he met Lucy. Nina reminisces about her relationship with Joe and how she knew he would wind up marrying someone else. Everyone takes to the dancefloor and Joe has the DJ play “The Edge of Heaven” for Nina. Joe “reels” Nina over to him with the fishhook dance move, and she dances with him and Lucy until they fall on the ground together in laughter.
Part 2, Chapters 11-13 Analysis
Part 2 opens with Nina and Lola feeling out of place at Lucy’s hen do (bachelorette party). Nina harshly judges Lucy for all the pageantry; however, Nina’s internal monologue reveals that she feels more melancholy than bitter, as the entire weekend is another reminder of what she doesn’t have. Nina notes that single women are stereotypically seen as the life of the party at hen dos because of their lack of attachment, yet Nina and Lola half-heartedly participate in the activities, go to bed early, and leave the gathering before everyone else. The dinner scene reinforces the theme of Gender Roles in Relationships, as the married women encourage Nina and Lola to make themselves more approachable and attractive to find a partner. Nina and Lola, though radically different in their personalities, both resist the idea that a woman must change to be loved. Yet, Nina notices on the ride home that Lola is still attached to traditional notions of marriage, an idea she keeps returning to. Throughout the narrative, Nina struggles to reconcile her need for freedom, self-determination, and self-respect with a deep desire to in a loving relationship.
The author juxtaposes the comedic absurdity of the hen do with the pathos of Nina’s visit to the museum with Bill. The clarity Bill finds while viewing the chaotic paintings of Picasso teaches Nina that her father isn’t necessarily losing his memories; instead, the dementia is rearranging his mind. Having spent so much energy worrying that she is losing him, she now sees that the illness is just uncovering new parts of his personality. However, the respite is short-lived, and as soon as they exit the museum, Bill’s confusion returns. Nina’s awkward exchange with Arthur as she covers for Bill’s inattention underscores the theme of Being a Caregiver for Someone in Cognitive Decline. Nina struggles to help others understand what is happening to her father, who doesn’t appear to have an illness. Meanwhile Nina’s relationship with her mother deepens as they work together to adjust Bill’s care plan and as Nina opens up about her heartbreak. However, Nancy’s response illustrates the generational gap between the women, as Nancy has a more traditional view of Gender Roles in Relationships. As a woman who married young and has been partnered for many years, she is overwhelmed by her husband’s illness, her own grief, and her new caregiving responsibilities. Her strange behavior is only a coping mechanism, and Nina becomes more sympathetic to her mother as she realizes they are in the same boat. Both women feel they are living lives they didn’t plan or choose, and both feel powerless to change their circumstances.
Nina’s escalation of the feud with Angelo reflects her deeper frustrations with her life. Her apartment, though imperfect, is a point of pride; it represents her ability to provide for herself, and Angelo’s presence disrupts the one place where she feels safe and happy. The conflict sours her love of the apartment and makes her feel more alone and insecure.
Joe’s wedding, though another reminder of Nina’s singleness, gives her much-needed closure, something she doesn’t get with Max, and any lingering romantic tension between them dissolves as Nina sees him happily join his life with Lucy’s. Much like Nina’s birthday party in the Prologue, the wedding is a gathering of all of Nina’s closest friends, and though she is physically present, she describes it as if she is on the outside, discussing how each of the attendees is changing as they age. The wedding comes in the middle of the story, while Nina is still sorting through the loss of Max, the shifts in her friendships, and her father’s illness, and by the end of the event, Nina has gained more perspective on her life. The wedding is a reminder to Nina that relationships, both platonic and romantic, can be beautiful and fulfilling but also fragile and unpredictable.
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