Chapter 25 Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens in a doctor's office waiting room, where Eloise holds Adelaide's hand and suggests a weekend getaway as a way to break the news of the pregnancy to Rory. The blood test confirms Adelaide is ten weeks pregnant. Following Eloise's advice, Adelaide texts Rory a casual invitation for an Easter weekend trip, and he accepts. They book a villa in Lake Garda after finding a remarkable deal.
In London, Adelaide throws a miniature bachelorette party for Eloise, complete with party poppers and feather boas, joined by Madison and Celeste. On the dance floor, Adelaide confesses her deepest fears to Eloise: that she'll raise the baby alone, that Rory will never love her, and that she'll forever fall short of Nathalie Alban. Eloise reassures her that Rory chose her before Nathalie's death and will continue to choose her and the baby.
The next morning, after Eloise flies out, Adelaide wakes around 8 A.M. to heavy bleeding. At the doctor's office, she learns she has had an early-stage miscarriage. The chapter notes that this pregnancy was one in 282—exceptional, statistics-defying. Adelaide weeps, holding the doctor's hands. She texts Eloise with just three words: I lost the baby. Eloise offers to fly back from Mykonos, but Adelaide insists she's fine.
Three days later, Adelaide flies to Italy with Rory as if nothing happened. She attributes the bleeding to her endometriosis. The narrator reveals Adelaide's pattern of burying grief, recalling how she barely cried when a high school friend died by suicide.
At the villa, Rory has requested two single beds, which breaks Adelaide's heart. She insists they push them together and asks him to share secrets to bridge the intimacy gap. Rory shares his childhood dream of being a famous writer and mentions telling Nat about it. Adelaide has advice she doesn't voice.
The trip is idyllic on the surface: pasta, wine, ferry rides across the lake, a King of the World moment, baths, and reading. But Adelaide bleeds again in the bath, the water turning red.
On Easter Sunday, Rory shows Adelaide a sparkly pro-life graphic from his Irish Catholic grandmother, who had multiple miscarriages early in her marriage. Adelaide thinks she'd find more comfort in believing she lost a vessel, not a soul. Rory responds curtly, saying she can't presume what his grandmother experienced. Adelaide silently thinks Rory has no idea what she's going through.
Key Events
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Blood test confirms Adelaide is ten weeks pregnant
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Eloise's bachelorette party; Adelaide confesses her fears about Rory and Nathalie
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Adelaide wakes to heavy bleeding and is diagnosed with a miscarriage
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She hides the loss from Rory, attributing bleeding to endometriosis
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The Lake Garda trip proceeds as planned, with Adelaide concealing her grief
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Easter Sunday: Rory shares his grandmother's pro-life graphic; Adelaide silently reflects on her loss
Character Development
Adelaide — This chapter crystallizes her central conflict: she feels everything except what she most needs to feel. The narrator explicitly connects her response to the miscarriage with her response to a high school friend's suicide—brief tears, then burial. She actively suppresses her grief, maintains a cheerful facade in Italy, and even has sex with Rory while bleeding, then vomits afterward. Her internal thought—that Rory has no idea—shows the growing gap between her inner world and her outward performance.
Eloise — Her role as Adelaide's anchor is reinforced. She offers to fly back from Mykonos immediately, and her earlier reassurance—that Rory chose Adelaide before Nathalie's death—gives Adelaide a fragile hope she can't fully hold onto.
Rory — He remains unaware of the loss. His request for two single beds and his curt dismissal of Adelaide's vessel comment reveal a man who, however well-intentioned, is not attuned to Adelaide's emotional state. His sharing of the writer dream, with the casual mention of Nat, underscores the shadow Nathalie still casts.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Buried grief and emotional suppression — The narrator's direct commentary frames Adelaide's coping mechanism: she buries hurt so deep she can barely feel it. The miscarriage joins a pattern established by the high school friend's death.
Secrets and deception — Adelaide's lie about endometriosis is a deliberate performance. The chapter's power comes from the reader knowing what Rory doesn't.
The team metaphor — Adelaide's fear that Team Adelaide will never win recurs. Eloise's reassurance that Rory chose her is meant to counter this, but Adelaide's final thought—what if he's not on your team at all?—undermines it.
Vessel vs. soul — Adelaide's private reflection on losing a vessel rather than a soul is a quiet theological counterpoint to the grandmother's pro-life graphic. It's also a way for Adelaide to distance herself from the pain of the loss.
Romantic escape as distraction — The Lake Garda trip is framed as an idyllic escape, but the bleeding in the bath and the Easter Sunday exchange puncture the fantasy.
The intimacy gap — Rory's request for two single beds and Adelaide's insistence on pushing them together literalizes the emotional distance between them. Her request for secrets to bridge this gap is met with a story that centers on Nat.
Why This Chapter Matters
This is the chapter where the novel's central secret is established: Adelaide's miscarriage, hidden from Rory. It sets up the dramatic irony that will likely drive the rest of the narrative—the reader knows what Rory doesn't, and Adelaide's internal conflict between her love for him and her fear of his reaction becomes the engine of the story. The chapter also deepens the novel's meditation on grief, showing that Adelaide's pattern of suppression predates this loss. The Easter Sunday exchange, with its political and theological undertones, adds a layer of social commentary while simultaneously isolating Adelaide in her private pain. The happily ever after that Adelaide half-trusts is revealed as a fragile construction built on a lie.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Adelaide hide the miscarriage from Rory, and what does this reveal about her character?
Adelaide hides the loss because she fears Rory's reaction and, more fundamentally, because she fears abandonment. Her confession to Eloise—that she's scared of raising the baby alone and of never being loved—shows that the pregnancy was, in part, a bid for connection. Losing it feels like losing her claim on Rory. Her pattern of burying grief, established with the high school friend's death, means she defaults to suppression rather than seeking support. The lie about endometriosis is a way to maintain the facade of the perfect trip and the perfect relationship.
2. How does the narrator's commentary about Adelaide feeling everything except what she most needs to feel connect to her past and shape the chapter?
The narrator explicitly links Adelaide's response to the miscarriage with her response to a high school friend's suicide: brief tears, then burial. This establishes a lifelong pattern of emotional suppression. In this chapter, it means Adelaide can enjoy Lake Garda on the surface while bleeding internally—literally and figuratively. The commentary also explains why she doesn't tell Rory: she's not avoiding the conversation so much as avoiding the feeling.
3. What is the significance of the vessel vs. soul exchange on Easter Sunday?
Adelaide's private thought—that she'd find more comfort in believing she lost a vessel, not a soul—is a way of minimizing her own loss to survive it. Rory's curt dismissal, telling her she can't presume what his grandmother experienced, shuts down the conversation and leaves Adelaide feeling unseen. The exchange highlights the political and theological dimensions of miscarriage while also showing how even well-meaning people can fail to provide the support a grieving person needs. Adelaide's final thought—that Rory has no idea—captures the isolation at the heart of her buried grief.
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