Chapter 13 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
The chapter opens at a party hosted by Mirella’s friend Jess. Mirella finds her partner Louisa smoking on a rooftop terrace—a small patch of blacktop roof dressed with fairy lights and potted palms. Mirella lies about how she is doing, telling Louisa she is “not bad at all” and blaming a random bad night for her tiredness. She reflects that it is troublingly easy to lie to Louisa, and that Louisa seems infinitely less interesting than Vincent, with an unspoiled quality—an air of having been cushioned from life’s sharper edges—that has become less appealing.
The terrace is a dangerous place for Mirella. It triggers a memory from roughly thirteen or fourteen years earlier, when she, Vincent, and Faisal stood on the same terrace at another party. Vincent insisted she could see the North Star; Mirella corrected her that it was a satellite. Faisal stepped out, Mirella kissed him, and Vincent glanced in their direction before returning her gaze to the sky. Mirella notes that a difference between her and Vincent was that Mirella truly loved her husband. Faisal, squinting at the sky, joked that he needed new glasses and called the space a “thrillingly boho firetrap.” Mirella closes her eyes to avoid seeing Faisal gazing up at the sky.
Louisa asks about Mirella’s day. Mirella mentions a walk, laundry, and Instagram, and privately dismisses the possibility that Gaspery Roberts could have been the man under the overpass, because that was decades ago and he hadn’t aged. Louisa’s questions, once a gift, now feel like an intrusion. When Louisa suggests renting a cottage to get out of the city, Mirella is startled by the unhappiness that floods through her—she realizes she very much does not want to go.
After Louisa goes inside for another drink, a fortune-teller approaches Mirella, asking for a light and offering to read her palms in return. Mirella’s hands tremble as she holds them out. The fortune-teller, older than Mirella first thought, in her thirties with first lines visible on her face and wearing a complicated arrangement of scarves, closes her eyes and declares that Mirella has a secret. She proposes an exchange of secrets between strangers who will never see each other again. The fortune-teller goes first, confessing that she hates people—all except maybe three. Mirella then says her secret: she wants to kill a man. Pressed for a name, she says Jonathan Alkaitis, then immediately wonders aloud whether she actually just wants to talk to him. The fortune-teller notes that this is a pretty big difference. Mirella closes her eyes and says she’ll have to make up her mind.
The fortune-teller thanks Mirella for the light and vanishes into the party through an open door. Mirella stands looking at the brilliant moon over New York City, then returns inside. She finds Louisa dancing, tells her she has a headache, and leaves. As she backs away through the crowd, she says “Adieu.” Louisa, who speaks no French, doesn’t understand the implication and blows a kiss. Mirella knows it is over and feels nothing.
Key Events
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Mirella lies to Louisa about her wellbeing and her sleepless night
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The terrace triggers a memory of Mirella, Vincent, and Faisal identifying a satellite roughly thirteen or fourteen years earlier
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Louisa suggests renting a cottage; Mirella is flooded with unhappiness at the idea
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A fortune-teller asks Mirella for a light and offers to read her palms
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The fortune-teller and Mirella exchange secrets: the fortune-teller hates people; Mirella wants to kill a man
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Mirella names Jonathan Alkaitis as the man, then wonders if she only wants to talk to him
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Mirella leaves the party, telling Louisa she has a headache, and says “Adieu” as a final goodbye
Character Development
Mirella. This chapter marks a turning point in Mirella’s emotional arc. She recognizes that she has fallen out of love with Louisa so suddenly and so cleanly, and that lying to Louisa has become troublingly easy. The terrace memory shows her capacity for genuine love—she truly loved Faisal—and the contrast with her current numbness is stark. Most significantly, Mirella speaks her secret aloud for the first time: she wants to kill Jonathan Alkaitis. The act of naming him makes the desire real (“It became real as she said it”), but she immediately hedges, wondering if what she actually wants is to talk to him. This ambiguity suggests Mirella herself doesn’t fully understand her own motives.
Louisa. Louisa is characterized by her unspoiled quality—an air of having been cushioned from life’s sharper edges. Her questions, which Mirella once treasured, now feel intrusive. She is unaware of Mirella’s inner turmoil, and her final gesture—blowing a kiss to Mirella’s “Adieu”—underscores her inability to read the situation. She speaks no French and doesn’t understand the finality of the word.
The fortune-teller. Though brief, the fortune-teller serves as a catalyst. She is perceptive enough to sense Mirella’s secret, and her own confession—that she hates people—creates a strange intimacy between two strangers. Her practical response to Mirella’s revelation (“Pretty big difference”) grounds the exchange in reality.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Falling out of love. Mirella’s realization that she has fallen out of love with Louisa is central. The chapter traces the moment of recognition: the ease of lying, the comparison to Vincent, the unhappiness at the cottage suggestion, and finally the empty “Adieu.”
Memory triggers. The terrace is explicitly a dangerous place for Mirella—a location where she can be sucked into memories of another life. The fairy lights and potted palms are the same as they were years ago, making the past feel present.
Secrets and confession. The fortune-teller’s exchange creates a space for Mirella to speak her secret. The structure—strangers confessing to each other, never to meet again—mirrors the novel’s interest in how truth surfaces.
Desire for revenge. Mirella’s stated desire to kill Jonathan Alkaitis connects this chapter to the larger narrative of the Ponzi scheme. But her immediate revision—maybe she just wants to talk to him—complicates the revenge motive.
Celestial imagery. The satellite mistaken for the North Star, and the brilliant moon over New York City, frame the chapter. The sky is a place of misidentification and longing.
Time displacement. Mirella’s thought about Gaspery Roberts—that he couldn’t have been the man under the overpass because he hadn’t aged—reinforces the novel’s time-travel element.
Goodbyes and endings. “Adieu” is a final farewell, distinct from “au revoir.” Louisa’s failure to understand it underscores the asymmetry of their parting.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is pivotal for Mirella’s storyline. It is the first time she speaks Jonathan Alkaitis’s name aloud in the context of her desire for revenge, and the ambiguity of whether she wants to kill him or talk to him sets up the tension that will drive her forward. The chapter also marks the definitive end of her relationship with Louisa, clearing the way for whatever comes next. The Gaspery Roberts reference ties Mirella’s thread to the novel’s time-displacement plot, and the fortune-teller’s exchange—two strangers confessing secrets—echoes the novel’s broader concern with how people reveal themselves to each other.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Mirella say “Adieu” instead of “goodbye” or “au revoir”?
“Adieu” is a French farewell that implies finality—literally “to God,” suggesting a parting that may be permanent. Mirella knows it is over with Louisa and feels nothing. Louisa, who speaks no French, doesn’t understand the implication and blows a kiss, underscoring the emotional distance between them.
2. What does the fortune-teller’s exchange reveal about Mirella’s state of mind?
The exchange allows Mirella to articulate a secret she may not have fully acknowledged: she wants to kill Jonathan Alkaitis. But her immediate revision—maybe she just wants to talk to him—reveals her uncertainty about her own motives. The fact that the secret became real as she said it suggests that speaking it aloud is a form of self-discovery.
3. How does the terrace memory connect to Mirella’s present situation?
The memory of standing on the terrace with Vincent and Faisal thirteen or fourteen years earlier shows Mirella in a moment of genuine love and connection. The contrast with her present numbness—her ease in lying to Louisa, her lack of feeling at their parting—highlights how much she has changed. The terrace is a dangerous place because it makes that contrast vivid.