Chapter 9: ANNA – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ 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

In November 1991, Anna returns to the watchtower on Mount Aragats after a failed jump—she missed her target date. She jumps again to December 1986 and lands inside a prison, where she finds her daughter, Molly (known as Manya), addicted to heroin and locked in a cell. Anna reaches through the bars, confesses she is Molly’s birth mother, and offers to change the past so Molly never meets Viktor (Raisa’s father). Molly refuses because erasing Viktor would also erase her daughter, Raisa. Molly asks Anna to prove her identity by telling a story about Yulia (Molly’s adoptive mother). Anna shares memories of Berlin and their escape back to the USSR. Before Anna is pulled back to Aragats, she begs Molly to find her when she gets out.

When Anna returns to the watchtower, an older, sober Molly is waiting for her. Molly explains she has been living on the mountain for four years, that Anna’s jumps are decaying her cells and causing memory loss, and that they have a deal: Anna will help Molly save Raisa from a traumatic foster‑care experience. Molly has taken up drawing again, a solace Anna recommended. The chapter ends with Molly telling Anna to rest and promising the next jump will be for Raisa.

Key Events

Anna makes two jumps in one day, landing first in the wrong year and then inside a prison.
She finds Molly (Manya) in a cell, sick and addicted to heroin, with visible needle marks and bruises.
Anna reveals she is Molly’s birth mother and offers to alter the past so Viktor never enters Molly’s life.
Molly refuses, arguing that changing the past with Viktor would erase her daughter Raisa.
Anna proves her identity by recounting stories of Yulia’s love and their life in Berlin.
Anna is pulled back to the watchtower after two hours; the burns on her hands are worse than before.
She meets an older, sober Molly, who has been living on the mountain for four years.
Molly explains that Anna’s time‑travel is destroying her cells, causing memory loss, and that Anna is dying.
Molly reveals that once she believed the prison visit was real, she tracked down Anna and joined her on Aragats.
The two have a strained but functional partnership: Molly helps Anna with Chernobyl in exchange for help saving Raisa.
Molly has replaced Yulia’s letters and photos with murals of three superheroines, and she now draws to cope.

Character Development

Anna: For the first time, Anna confronts the full weight of her decision to give up Molly. She admits her mistakes and acknowledges the postpartum fog that clouded her mind. In the watchtower, she learns that repeated jumps are killing her—a sobering cost to her mission.
Molly: Seen in two timelines: first as a broken addict, then as a recovering, sober woman who has spent years grappling with her anger. Molly’s growth is evident in her ability to draw again and her determination to save Raisa, even though she still feels resentment toward Anna.
Yulia (implied through story): Still a touchstone of love and sacrifice for both Anna and Molly; her memory drives the connection between mother and daughter.
Viktor: Remains offstage but looms as the catalyst for Molly’s downfall and Raisa’s existence. His role highlights the painful dilemma of changing the past.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Motherhood and Guilt: Anna’s guilt over abandoning Molly is palpable. She blames herself for Molly’s addiction and prison sentence. Molly, in turn, is angry but also grateful for the chance to rebuild.
The Cost of Time Travel: The chapter makes explicit that each jump damages Anna’s cells and shortens her life. The burns on her hands and the memory lapses are physical symbols of this sacrifice.
Art as Healing: Molly’s drawing and the murals of superheroines represent her recovery. Anna’s suggestion that drawing soothes Molly mirrors how math soothes Anna—different tools for parallel struggles.
Parallel Timelines and Choice: The conversation about Viktor and Raisa illustrates the impossibility of clean fixes. Every change risks erasing something precious. The existence of two timelines (Anna’s and Molly’s) forces the characters to navigate a fractured reality.
Foster Care and Trauma: Raisa’s suffering in foster care underscores the generational damage that addiction and incarceration cause. Molly’s drive to save Raisa is the moral center of the chapter.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 9 is the emotional core of Anna’s relationship with her daughter. It transforms Anna’s abstract guilt into a concrete, painful encounter. It also establishes the physical toll of time travel, raising the stakes for every subsequent jump. The reveal that Anna is dying and that Molly has already lived through years of partnership on the mountain introduces a nonlinear timeline that challenges the reader’s understanding of cause and effect. Most importantly, the chapter sets up the central dilemma: can Anna change the past without destroying the people she loves?

Study Questions

Why does Molly refuse to let Anna erase Viktor from her life, even though Viktor contributed to her addiction and imprisonment?
Answer: Molly insists that without Viktor, she would not have Raisa. Raisa is the one good thing in her life, and she would rather endure her own suffering than lose her daughter. This shows that Molly, like Anna, prioritizes her child above all else.
What evidence in the chapter suggests that time travel is slowly killing Anna?
Answer: The severe burns on her hands, the dizziness after two jumps in one day, and Molly’s direct statement that each jump “decays your cells” and damages her brain. Anna also admits to forgetting Molly’s American name, a sign of memory loss.
How does Molly’s drawing serve as a symbol in this chapter?
Answer: When Molly arrives on the mountain, Anna tells her that drawing will help her cope, just as math helps Anna. By the time of the chapter, Molly has created murals of three superheroines. Art becomes a way for Molly to process her trauma and reclaim a creative identity, replacing the destructive patterns of her addiction.