50 pages • 1 hour read
Karen M. McManusThe Cousins
Fiction | Novel | YA | 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.
Chapter 17-“Allison Age 18: August 1996”Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
As stunned silence falls over the crowd, Mildred says that “[Milly and Jonah’s] parents were nothing but disappointments, and [her grandchildren] are entirely the same” (318). Jonah declares that Anders “hates [Mildred’s] guts and always has” (318), but Anders suddenly appears and declares that this is a vicious lie from an imposter. Mildred panics and runs out of the room as Anders tells the party that Jonah is an imposter. He claims that Archer approached the children directly and “offered them jobs under false pretenses, hoping to worm his way back into [Mildred’s] good graces” (321), but his son JT wisely refused to go. However, when a news article was published showing Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah attending Dr. Baxter’s funeral, Anders and JT realized that Jonah North was passing himself off as JT. Aubrey understands that once that photograph hit the news, JT had no choice but to confess to the plan, and Anders is now twisting the truth to “make him and JT sound blameless, and the rest of [them] sound like conniving gold diggers” (323). Jonah calls Anders a liar, declaring that “[Anders is] trying to manipulate the entire room, just like [Anders] manipulated [Jonah’s] parents” (322). At Jonah’s words, Milly finally understands who Jonah is: The son of one of Anders’s victims. She and Aubrey feel betrayed that he didn’t tell them, and they wonder if Jonah hated them all along and intended to sabotage their futures. Donald has Anders, JT, and Jonah thrown out of the party, much to Anders’s dismay and fury.
Chapter 18 Summary
Jonah is forced to pack his bags while security officers watch him. He is being escorted off of resort property and checked into a hotel for the night: long enough for him to make arrangements to “be off the island by tomorrow afternoon” (328). He texts Milly an apology but gets no answer. JT and Anders are checked into the same hotel, and Jonah confronts Anders and calls him a liar who used this whole situation to his advantage. Anders refuses to take any responsibility for his actions but simply states that he “took a shot [...] the only one [Jonah] and JT left [him] with” (332). Jonah goes to his hotel room and sees a text from his father, who tells him that bankruptcy court went well and they will likely be able to save their family business. There is a knock at the door, and to Jonah’s surprise, Archer is standing in the doorway. Archer apologizes for bringing the kids to the island just to abandon them and that “[his] refusal to act like an adult human [...] led to the horrible evening [they’ve] just experienced” (339). He confirms that he did not get a chance to talk to Dr. Baxter before his death to find out what big secret he had been keeping from Archer. Jonah begs Archer to let him hide out with him, just long enough to figure out what to do next. Reluctantly, Archer agrees.
Chapter 19 Summary
The next morning, Milly and Aubrey meet with Donald, who insists that they leave the island in the wake of the embarrassing events of the Summer Gala. He has taken care of all of the details and promises to pay them for a full summer of work but adds that Mildred wants to meet with Aubrey, who will serve as “a representative for the cousins” (344). Milly announces that they won’t be leaving and don’t want his money, and Aubrey agrees. Donald is clearly flustered by the thought of them refusing to comply with orders, and he reminds them that “[they] have nowhere to go except home” (346). Milly and Aubrey go to see Uncle Archer and are surprised to find Jonah hiding out with him. Suddenly, Hazel stops in to share a letter that she discovered on her grandfather’s desk that is “addressed to [Hazel], but [...] about [Archer]” (349). Dr. Baxter’s letter reads that he has “done a grave injustice to Archer Story” (350), but the letter doesn’t go into details. It does, however, include an autopsy report for Kayla from 1997. Archer explains that Mildred sent the “you know what you did” letters before Kayla died, not after as Aubrey suspected. Archer decides to show the autopsy report to Kayla’s sister, Oona. Privately, Jonah tries to apologize to Milly for withholding the truth of his mission on the island—to ruin Anders’s chances of ever reconnecting with Mildred—but Milly is still hurt and isn’t ready to forgive him.
“Allison, Age 18: August 1996” Summary
In 1996, Allison and Anders have followed Matt to a coffee shop. Allison has decided to tell Matt about the baby but is getting cold feet. Anders encourages her to “stop being such a coward and ask [Matt] to take a walk with her” (358), and she finally works up the courage to approach him as he leaves the store. Matt refuses to talk to Allison and tells her that what happened between them was just a one-time thing. He says he’s “not interested” (359), and he wants Allison to stop calling him. Anders comes to Allison’s defense, declaring that “[Matt] should be thanking [Allison] for giving [him] the time of day” (359). Matt fires back that Kayla chose him over Anders and that people like Anders think they own people just because they have money. Matt meets Kayla on the sidewalk. Allison and Anders drive off in silent fury. Kayla blows a kiss at their car, and Anders remarks that “she’s going to regret that” (362). Allison is suddenly hit with intense pain in her stomach and experiences a miscarriage. She takes another pregnancy test, which is negative. She wishes that she could tell her mother about what happened with Matt and the baby. She overhears Anders and Adam talking on the beach, and Adam comments that it’s a good thing Allison had a miscarriage because otherwise, their mother would “[share] a bastard grandchild with her assistant” (365). Anders comments that the world would be better off without Kayla and Matt.
Chapter 17-“Allison, Age 18: August 1996” Analysis
Anders has been a background character thus far, and his sudden unexpected arrival at the Summer Gala thrusts him into the spotlight as another villainous presence in the story. Not only did Anders’s bad investments ruin Jonah’s family finances, but Anders refuses to take any responsibility for what he did. Anders and Adam are cut from the same cloth: they both dodge accountability and prioritize money and reputation. In 1996, Allison overhears her brothers talking about her miscarriage, and she discovers that they are not worried about her feelings or health. Instead, they express concern only for preserving the Story family reputation. The young men show a complete lack of empathy or love, only pride, arrogance, and coldheartedness. In their minds, “Family first, always” has nothing to do with taking care of the actual people in the family and everything to do with protecting the family’s precious legacy. This attitude has carried over 24 years later, and other people are still feeling the effects of their selfishness.
Character dynamics and motivations begin to shift after the Summer Gala. Jonah is tired of being angry, and his revenge fantasy was unsatisfying and, ultimately, a failure. He doesn’t want to focus on ruining Anders anymore but on making amends with Milly and Aubrey, whom he has grown close to over the summer. He finds an unexpected ally in Archer, who may not be his biological uncle but who still cares about him and wants to help.
Holes begin to appear in the story of Kayla’s death, and given her proximity to the Story family and the bizarre behavior that Jonah observed in Dr. Baxter, the kids start to realize that there is more to the story. McManus builds suspense by offering a series of seemingly unrelated details that begin to knit themselves together over the course of the novel.
Archer begins to emerge as an admirable adult Story, despite his struggles with addiction, and when the kids rebel against Donald and Mildred, Archer is there to help support and shelter them when everything around them starts to fall apart. McManus uses Archer to explore a deeply ironic idea: Adam and Anders may have been obsessed with maintaining the good Story name, but only Archer understands the meaning of their father’s famous phrase: “Family first, always.”
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