Chapter 7 'Relics': 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 with Chloe’s plan for the wedding preparations: everyone is to meet at Small Angels at ten in the morning, with the first couple of days devoted to cleaning—dusting, sweeping, polishing—before moving on to decorating with candles, ribbons, and balloons. Flowers are saved for Friday, when wedding guests will arrive to help. Kate agrees to walk to the church alone, wanting to manage her first sight of Small Angels without an audience.

On her way, she stops at the Albatross, where John Pauncefoot offers her coffee and bread. He brings up Brian’s story from the previous night, asking whether it troubled her. Kate dismisses it, but John seems genuinely concerned, though he doesn’t press the matter.

Walking to the church, Kate is flooded with memory. She recalls her first visit years ago, at the funeral of a Gonne cousin. Birdie had muttered about the “awful place,” but Kate loved Small Angels immediately—the pale stone, the crooked graves, the scarred oak door. Inside, she remembers seeing the Gonne family at the front: an old lady and four granddaughters in faded black. The youngest, Lucia, stared at her with bright green eyes. Kate later learned that Lucia remembered her too, as the only one who looked at them straight on.

Kate also recalls returning to Small Angels as a teenager, seeking refuge from her parents’ unhappy marriage, and finding “beware” scrawled on a gravestone—a small, childish thing that nonetheless felt like hope.

When Birdie and Bill arrive with Chloe, the group divides: Birdie and Bill take the Tithe Barn, while Chloe and Kate clean the church. Chloe carries Selina Gonne’s key to the church, but struggles with the lock. Kate, using the knack Lucia taught her long ago—not twisting the key too far—opens the door easily, though she senses Chloe’s annoyance at not being the one to do it.

Inside, the church is thick with dust, the ledger stones obscured, the air heavy. Chloe finds the smell strange. Kate remembers the church as brighter, full of colored light from the stained glass, and recalls Lucia showing her the carvings of wild men and lions, and the pink-stained stone from an old fire.

Chloe, increasingly affected by the dust (she coughs frequently and sounds hoarse), discovers the Rood Screen—a memento mori with two painted skeletons, one offering the other flowers. She wants to cover it with a curtain or dust sheet, disturbed by the idea of the painted dead watching her wedding. Kate finds the skeletons strangely life-affirming, as she did as a teenager.

During a break, they eat in the graveyard. Chloe asks Kate what she thinks the Gonnes did on moonlit nights, and whether the stories are nonsense. Kate deflects, but Chloe seems about to say something important when John Pauncefoot knocks at the door, offering to help. Whatever Chloe was about to say is lost.

John joins the cleaning, and they make progress. Chloe then asks John about bell ringers for the wedding. John refuses: nobody would touch the bells—they were always the Gonne family’s privilege. Kate remembers hearing the bells as a child, calling across the fields, and wondering who the Gonnes were calling.

After this, Kate hears children laughing outside. Three small girls are playing in the graveyard, apparently herding or chasing something invisible. John sends them away, saying it isn’t safe. After they leave, the graveyard seems quieter.

As they pack up, John tells Kate that Lucia Gonne has returned to Blanch Farm—she moved back three years ago. She comes to the Albatross occasionally, selling bottles from Selina’s old store, and looks increasingly worn out. John suggests Kate visit her, noting that Lucia asks about Kate but no one else. Kate refuses, saying Lucia told her to keep away. John mentions that the girls were playing with a goose that came out of the woods.

Kate is troubled and annoyed. She resolves to stay away from Lucia and the woods, telling herself she’s here only for damage control and will return to her cathedral life as soon as possible.

Key Events

The wedding cleaning party assembles at Small Angels; Birdie and Bill take the Tithe Barn, Chloe and Kate take the church
Kate opens the locked church door using the knack Lucia taught her, revealing her secret knowledge of the Gonnes’ ways
Chloe discovers the Rood Screen and wants it covered, disturbed by the painted skeletons
John refuses Chloe’s request for bell ringers, explaining the bells were always the Gonne family’s privilege
Three girls playing with an invisible creature (a goose from the woods) are sent away from the graveyard
John tells Kate that Lucia has returned to Blanch Farm and appears unwell, suggesting Kate visit her
Kate resolves not to see Lucia and to avoid the woods

Character Development

Kate is caught between the past and the present throughout this chapter. Her decision to walk to the church alone shows her need to control her emotional response to Small Angels. The flashbacks to her first visit and to Lucia’s friendship reveal how deeply the place and the person are intertwined in her memory. Her ability to open the locked door—a skill Lucia taught her—demonstrates that she carries the Gonnes’ knowledge with her, even as she tries to distance herself from them. Her refusal to visit Lucia, despite John’s urging, shows both self-protection and a lingering resentment, particularly toward Sam, who once insisted she keep silent about what she saw.

Chloe emerges as a well-meaning but intrusive presence. She is a planner, organized and enthusiastic, but her reactions to the church—the smell, the Rood Screen, the bells—reveal her discomfort with the Gonne legacy. Her growing cough and hoarse voice hint at something more than dust affecting her. Her near-confession to Kate, interrupted by John’s arrival, suggests she has something on her mind that she hasn’t yet shared.

John Pauncefoot acts as a quiet intermediary. His concern for Kate is evident, as is his worry about Lucia and Blanch Farm. His mention of the goose from the woods is the chapter’s clearest signal that the supernatural threat is active again.

Lucia, though absent, looms over the chapter. John’s description of her—worn out, isolated, asking about Kate—paints a picture of decline and need, even as Kate resists the implication that she might be the one to help.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Memory and return: Kate’s walk to the church is described as wading through memory like deep water. The chapter is structured around her recollections—the funeral, the “beware” gravestone, Lucia showing her the church—all of which complicate her present task.

The church as relic and sanctuary: Small Angels is presented as a place of accumulated history—the claw-marked door, the ledger stones, the Rood Screen. Kate’s profession as a cathedral restorer gives her a particular relationship to such spaces; she understands the value of preservation, which makes Chloe’s cleaning feel like desecration.

Cleaning as desecration: Kate views Chloe’s vigorous cleaning—the synthetic lemon scent, the beating of hassocks, the bin-liner of rubbish—as an invasion of the Gonnes’ sanctuary. The chapter draws a contrast between restoration (Kate’s careful work) and erasure (Chloe’s tidying).

Memento mori: The Rood Screen’s painted skeletons, with their flowers and rotting robes, serve as a reminder of mortality. Kate finds them life-affirming; Chloe finds them horrifying. The screen embodies the chapter’s tension between embracing the past and wanting to cover it up.

Forbidden bells: The bells, which belong to the Gonne family’s privilege, symbolize the community’s continued deference to the Gonnes’ legacy. Chloe’s request for ringers is a modern intrusion into an old order.

The woods as threat: The goose that came out of the woods, and the invisible creature the girls were playing with, signal that the supernatural danger associated with the woods is still present. John’s concern about “things getting bad again” at Blanch Farm links the woods’ threat to Lucia’s decline.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter establishes the central conflict of the novel: the past’s refusal to stay buried. Kate’s return to Small Angels, prompted by Sam’s wedding, forces her to confront memories she has spent a decade avoiding. The chapter reveals the depth of her connection to Lucia and the Gonne family, while also showing why she has stayed away—the horror she witnessed, the silence Sam imposed on her, and her fear of being “dragged back.”

The chapter also introduces key supernatural elements: the invisible creature the children play with, the goose from the woods, and John’s ominous hints about Blanch Farm. These details suggest that the woods’ threat is not merely a memory but an active presence, and that Lucia—alone at Blanch Farm—may be in danger.

Finally, the chapter sets up the wedding itself as a kind of violation. Chloe’s cleaning, her desire to cover the Rood Screen, and her request for the bells all represent a modern sensibility colliding with an ancient, secretive tradition. The church is not just a venue; it is a relic of the Gonne family’s power, and Chloe’s occupation of it is fraught with consequence.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Kate insist on walking to Small Angels alone, and what does this reveal about her relationship to the church?

Kate wants to be alone for her first sight of Small Angels because she needs to manage her emotional response without an audience. She knows the initial shock will be difficult and wants to get it over with before having to appear “suitably festive and businesslike” for Chloe. This reveals that her relationship to the church is deeply personal and complicated—it is not just a venue for her brother’s wedding but a place loaded with memory, particularly of Lucia. Her need for solitude suggests she anticipates being overwhelmed.

2. What does the Rood Screen represent in this chapter, and how do Kate’s and Chloe’s reactions to it differ?

The Rood Screen, with its painted skeletons offering flowers, is a memento mori—a reminder of mortality. Kate finds it life-affirming; as a teenager it made her “gaspingly aware” of her own life, and the feeling is the same now. Chloe, by contrast, is disturbed by the idea of the painted dead watching her get married and wants to cover it. Their differing reactions reflect their broader attitudes toward the past: Kate is willing to engage with it (even if she resists it), while Chloe wants to tidy it away.

3. Why does John refuse to help Chloe find bell ringers, and what does this reveal about the Gonne family’s place in the community?

John explains that nobody would touch the bells because they were always the Gonne family’s privilege. This reveals that the Gonnes’ influence persists even after their apparent decline—the community still respects (or fears) their traditions. The bells, which Kate remembers calling across the fields at night, are tied to the Gonnes’ mysterious rituals. Chloe’s request to ring them is a modern intrusion into an old order, and John’s refusal shows that some boundaries remain intact.