Chapter Two: Summary, Themes, 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

The chapter opens during a blizzard when Isobel is eight years old. Her mother draws her close and tells her the story of her ancestress, Isobel Gowdie, who lived in the Highlands near Loch Katrina. Isobel Gowdie had the colors just like young Isobel. In those days, people moved comfortably between the faerie world and Christian belief. Isobel Gowdie used her gifts to heal the sick and help with childbirth, and the village lord was satisfied as long as the village prospered.

But when crops failed and cows died, the villagers blamed her. They came with torches and pitchforks, calling her a witch. According to the story, she escaped through the chimney onto her rooftop, where she stood on burning thatch and screamed a defiant confession, then slipped away on a moonless night.

Mam warns Isobel that her colors are dangerous. She reveals that her own mother learned to hide what she saw, and that her sister was sent to the madhouse. Mam tells Isobel she must keep her secret close and be ready for her time, though she cannot say when that time will come or what it will require.

The storm passes, but Mam's cough worsens. By spring, there are splatters of scarlet on her bedsheets. The family travels to Glasgow, where a doctor treats her with camphor and bloodletting. On her deathbed, Mam whispers to Isobel to keep her secret close. When she dies, Isobel's colors disappear with her—letters become simply black, and words become sounds without vision.

Pap sends Jamie to live with Uncle James in Abington, while he and Isobel remain in Glasgow. Pap finds work in a cousin's print shop, and he takes Isobel to Master Dwyer's Tambour Shop, a basement sewing room where girls embroider white muslin. Isobel passes the shop master's tests—a running stitch, a satin stitch, a string of ivy—and is hired. She spends years there, embroidering aprons, caps, collars, petticoats, bridal trousseaux, and infants' gowns.

At night, Pap teaches Isobel to read, sounding out words from newspapers. Without the colors, reading comes easily—the letters stay black and the words resolve into pictures and stories. This is the one good thing that comes from losing her colors.

One day Isobel reads a notice before Master Dwyer does: an order has come from America. The shop master scolds her sharply, declaring that reading brings the Devil into a girl's mind too easily. He then announces the order: an American merchant needs five hundred robes and baptism gowns for women and children in Salem. If they sell, more work will follow, along with cider, biscuits, and oranges for the girls.

Isobel's needling partner, Anne, coughs a splatter of scarlet blood onto her work—the same cough Isobel's mother had before she died. Isobel tells Anne to sleep with a garlic clove beneath her pillow.

That night, Isobel asks Pap if he believes her mother is in heaven. He is uncertain. She tells him she wants to go to America and make beautiful things with her needle. Pap dismisses the idea: pattern-making is men's work, and a girl's best hope is to marry well. Isobel understands that to marry well she would need a man with money and means, one who either doesn't see that she is different or who would keep her safe. She keeps to herself and pours everything into her needle.

The chapter closes with a scene from 1662. Marshal MacGreggor nails a proclamation to a kirk door: by order of the Laird of Park and Loch Loy, under King Charles, Isobel Gowdie shall stand trial for witchcraft, enchantment, and malfeasances. The villagers look on in fear, knowing how easily the accusation could fall on anyone. The marshal warns that the Devil may be disguised even as one's most beloved.

Key Events

Mam tells eight-year-old Isobel the story of her ancestress Isobel Gowdie during a blizzard
Mam warns Isobel to keep her colors secret and be ready for her time
Mam's health declines; the family travels to Glasgow for treatment
Mam dies; Isobel's colors disappear with her
Jamie is sent to live with Uncle James in Abington
Pap takes Isobel to Master Dwyer's Tambour Shop, where she is hired as an embroiderer
Pap teaches Isobel to read at night
Isobel reads about an American order for Salem and is scolded by Master Dwyer
Master Dwyer announces the Salem order: 500 robes and baptism gowns
Anne coughs blood; Isobel warns her about the illness
Isobel tells Pap she wants to go to America; he says pattern-making is men's work and she should marry well
A 1662 proclamation declares Isobel Gowdie will stand trial for witchcraft

Character Development

Isobel — The chapter traces her transition from a child with a magical gift to a young woman who has lost her colors and must navigate a world of limited options. Her mother's death strips away both her gift and her innocence. She channels her loss into her needlework and her secret reading, developing the skills that will later define her. Her desire for America represents a longing for freedom and beauty in a world that offers her neither.

Mam — Though she dies early in the chapter, Mam's influence shapes everything that follows. She passes on the story of Isobel Gowdie, warns her daughter about the dangers of the colors, and arranges for her to work in the tambour shop—a place without color, designed to keep her safe. Her final words reinforce the theme of secrecy.

Pap — Pap is a practical man who loves his daughter but cannot offer her the freedom she wants. He teaches her to read, which is a quiet act of rebellion, but he also tells her to marry well and not want anything grand. His words are framed as love—the best he can offer.

Master Dwyer — The shop master is dour and controlling, with a crushed arm from a fabric mill accident. He forbids reading among the girls, linking literacy to the Devil, yet he is also capable of generosity, sharing cider and biscuits when the American order arrives.

Anne — Isobel's needling partner is a poor coal man's daughter whose cough of blood foreshadows the same illness that killed Isobel's mother. She represents the fragility of life in this world and the bonds of friendship forming in the shop.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The colors as gift and curse — The colors are both Isobel's inspiration and her danger. They connect her to her ancestress but also mark her as different. Their disappearance with her mother's death suggests they are tied to love and belonging as much as to magic.

Secrecy and self-concealment — Mam's repeated warnings to keep her secret close establish secrecy as a survival strategy. Isobel learns to hide her gift, her reading, and her desires.

Women's limited opportunities — The chapter makes clear that pattern-making is men's work and that a girl's best hope is to marry well. Isobel's desire for freedom and beauty is repeatedly checked by the realities of her world.

Embroidery and needlework as craft — The tambour shop is a place of discipline and skill. Isobel's needle is both her livelihood and her art, the one avenue for her creativity.

Illness and mortality — Mam's death from consumption (implied by the scarlet blood) and Anne's similar cough underscore the fragility of life. The garlic remedy is a folk tradition that echoes the faerie-world beliefs of the earlier story.

Faerie world versus Christian belief — The chapter contrasts the old world of faeries and selkies with the Christian world of the kirk. Pap stops telling faerie stories after Mam dies, and the 1662 proclamation shows the church's power to condemn.

America as a place of hope — The Salem order is the first good tidings to come Isobel's way. America represents the possibility of a new life, though the historical irony—Salem's own witch trials—hangs over the promise.

Reading as forbidden for girls — Master Dwyer's warning that reading brings the Devil into a girl's mind shows how literacy was policed. Pap's decision to teach Isobel to read is a quiet act of defiance.

Ancestral inheritance — The story of Isobel Gowdie is passed down through generations, connecting Isobel to a lineage of women who saw the colors and faced persecution.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter establishes the foundational backstory that shapes Isobel's character and motivations. The story of Isobel Gowdie—a woman accused of witchcraft who escaped—creates a direct parallel to the novel's larger narrative, which will eventually bring Isobel to Salem, a place with its own history of witch trials. The loss of her colors and her mother's death explain her sadness and her longing for something more. Her desire to go to America, planted by the Salem order, sets up the journey that will define the rest of the novel. The chapter also introduces the tambour shop, where Isobel's skills are honed, and the theme of secrecy that will follow her throughout her life.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Mam tell Isobel the story of Isobel Gowdie during the blizzard?

Mam tells the story because she knows her health is failing and she wants to prepare Isobel for the dangers ahead. She warns Isobel to keep her colors secret and to be ready for her time, suggesting that she understands the persecution that women with such gifts face. The story serves as both a warning and a legacy—Isobel must know where she comes from and what she may face.

2. How does the loss of her colors change Isobel's relationship to reading?

Before her mother's death, the colors made letters and words vivid and distracting. After the colors disappear, letters become simply black, and reading becomes easier—words resolve into pictures and stories. This is framed as the one good thing that comes from losing the colors, and it opens up a new world for Isobel, even though reading is forbidden for girls in the shop.

3. What does the 1662 proclamation at the end of the chapter foreshadow?

The proclamation that Isobel Gowdie will stand trial for witchcraft connects the historical past to Isobel's present and future. It reminds the reader that the persecution of women with unusual gifts is not ancient history but a living threat. It also foreshadows the novel's eventual setting in Salem, where accusations of witchcraft will again shape lives. The marshal's warning that the Devil may be disguised even as one's most beloved suggests that trust itself is dangerous.