Chapter Two: Grief, Burial Arrangements, and a Surprising Discovery

⚠️ 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

Tom wakes in a Paris hospital with an oxygen mask, remembering the explosion. He learns he must tell Honor’s mother, Colette, that her daughter and granddaughter are dead. After discharge, Tom stays at Colette’s apartment, but their relationship fractures over where to bury the bodies. Honor had bought plots next to her father in England; Colette insists on France. Tom leaves and walks to a funeral parlor run by Alain, who measures Chloe’s height using Tom’s index finger (at trouser-leg level) and Honor’s height at his chest, where she used to rest her head. At the airport, Tom is placed on standby; he breaks down when the check-in woman doesn’t understand that his family are in the cargo hold. A sympathetic agent escorts him onto the flight. Back in their London home, Tom wanders through silent rooms, examining Honor’s diary, her perfume, and contemplating suicide. He prays to wake from the “dream.” The phone rings: a fertility clinic announces that Honor’s surrogate, Jess, is pregnant. Tom must now decide how to live.

Key Events

Honor tells Tom she has bought two burial plots next to her father; they joke about who may share them.
The scene cuts to Tom in hospital after the bombing; paramedics revive him.
Tom learns Honor and Chloe are dead; he must tell Colette.
Colette insists the bodies stay in France; Tom argues and slams out.
Tom visits coffin maker Alain; he measures Chloe and Honor’s heights by touch.
At Charles de Gaulle, Tom is put on standby; he breaks down, the ticket agent reissues his boarding card.
Tom flies home alone, then enters an eerily tidy house.
He examines Honor’s belongings: her diary (blank for the coming year), her skincare, and her perfume Sycomore.
Tom kneels on the bathroom floor, praying to wake from the nightmare, and considers suicide.
A call from London Fertility Partners reveals that the surrogate Jess is pregnant with their child.

Character Development

Tom moves from bantering husband to hollow survivor. His grief is physical: he cannot eat, his teeth chatter, and his voice shakes. He shows vulnerability when crying in the airport. His argument with Colette reveals a new assertiveness—defending Honor’s wishes. The final phone call forces him to reconsider his desire to die.

Honor (narrating from beyond) is present in memory and in the objects Tom finds. Her organizational role is highlighted—she handled bills, taxis, and life’s logistics. Her love for Tom is shown through her purchase of the burial plots and her teasing jokes.

Colette is portrayed as controlling; she only speaks English when she wants something. Her grief makes her cling to Honor, despite having been distant when Honor was alive.

Supporting characters: Alain the coffin maker shows quiet compassion. The check-in agent shifts from indifference to empathy.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Burial as a final choice: The opening argument about plots foreshadows Tom’s later struggle with Colette. Honor wanted to be near her father; Tom fights for her wishes even after her death.
The unmarked diary: Honor’s bright red diary for the New Year is completely blank. It symbolizes the future that can no longer be written—no birthdays, meetings, or promises.
Chanel Sycomore perfume: Honor’s scent triggers an overwhelming physical response in Tom, representing the intrusion of memory into the present. It nearly drives him to suicide.
Height measurements: Tom shows Chloe’s height with his finger on his trousers and Honor’s height at his chest. These gestures are the only way to give the coffin maker a sense of their bodies, which were destroyed.
The “before and after”: Tom internalises that from now on there is only time before the bombing and time after. The airport, the tidy house, the silent fridge—all reinforce this rupture.
The phone call as turning point: The news of the surrogate pregnancy arrives like a “saving grace” (echoing the title). It interrupts Tom’s suicide ideation and introduces a fragile hope.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter Two shows the immediate emotional and logistical wreckage after the attack. It establishes Tom’s central dilemma: how to survive when the people he loved are gone. The chapter deepens Honor’s character through her voice (narration) and Tom’s memories, while introducing Colette as a foil and the surrogacy pregnancy as a narrative device that will drive Tom forward. The themes of choice (burial, whether to live) and memory (objects, scents, measured heights) are laid down with visceral clarity.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Tom argue with Colette about where to bury Honor and Chloe?
Tom is honoring the explicit wish Honor expressed earlier: to be buried next to her father in England, where she had bought plots. Colette wants them in France because Honor was “French,” but Tom knows Honor’s true preference. The argument shows Tom asserting Honor’s autonomy even after her death.
What does the empty diary in Honor’s bedside drawer symbolize?
The diary represents the life Honor will not get to live—a new year with no appointments, no birthdays, and no plans. Tom’s act of fanning through blank pages forces him (and the reader) to confront the abrupt end of Honor’s personal story.
How does the phone call from the fertility clinic change Tom’s outlook?
Tom had been considering suicide, kneeling on the bathroom floor and praying to die. The news that Honor’s surrogate is pregnant gives him a reason to continue living: he will have a child of Honor’s. The line “Was this cruel or a saving grace?” summarises the emotional pivot.