Chapter 10 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 on August 17, 1929, in Lanesborough, New Hampshire, with Ethel Monroe waking from another nightmare. Will shakes her awake, and she insists the dream was nothing, though she's certain something followed her from the dream world and left a damp, rotting odor behind. Will reassures her that they're just dreams.

Over the following weeks, Ethel notices physical changes—queasiness, fuller breasts, dresses that fit too tightly—but she dares not hope, attributing the symptoms to the rich foods she's been craving. She goes through her daily routine, reading headlines about President Hoover, the Lindberghs, Babe Ruth, and Winston Churchill, feeling strangely disconnected from a world that doesn't know she exists. She whispers to the newspaper faces that she is Mrs. Monroe from Lanesborough, and when she feels too lost, she pricks herself with a pin to feel grounded.

Ethel and Eliza Harding exchange weekly letters. Eliza reports on the goings-on at the hotel and springs: a man cured of his limp in July, a woman whose asthma vanished in early August, and a musician from New York who wished for fame and now has a hit song on the radio. Eliza also writes about the Woodcock family from Brooklyn—Mr. Woodcock in finance, his wife a former Broadway actress, their four-year-old son Charles who has never walked, and seven-year-old Martha who loves the roses. The family has booked a month at the hotel hoping the springs will help Charles.

Ethel busies herself planning the foliage festival: wagon rides, apple bobbing, a pie-eating contest, a chicken pie supper, music at the bandstand, and a Charleston contest.

When her July and August periods pass, Ethel is certain. She cooks Will his favorite supper—chicken and biscuits with triple-layer chocolate cake—and lights candles. She tells him they're celebrating a birthday yet to come. Will jumps up, spilling his wine, and embraces her. Ethel insists it's a girl, due March fifth, and they discuss painting the nursery pale yellow and Will's old cradle in the barn.

The day after telling Will, Ethel writes to her sisters and visits Myrtle, practically skipping down the street. At Myrtle's kitchen table over tea and pound cake, Ethel shares her news. Myrtle is overjoyed, but when Ethel confesses that she made a wish at the springs for a child, Myrtle's face drains of color. She sits frozen, like a wax figure. Ethel tries to laugh it off as a coincidence, but Myrtle says nothing. Ethel recalls Myrtle's earlier words about the water giving miracles but also taking. Finally, Myrtle smiles and changes the subject to sewing baby clothes, but her hand trembles as she picks up her teacup.

Key Events

Ethel wakes from a nightmare and smells a lingering damp, rotting odor
She experiences physical symptoms of pregnancy but initially dismisses them
Eliza's letters reveal the springs' cures: a healed limp, cured asthma, and a musician granted fame
The Woodcock family arrives at the hotel hoping the springs will help their son Charles
Ethel's July and August periods pass, confirming her pregnancy
She tells Will over a celebratory dinner; he's overjoyed
Ethel visits Myrtle and confesses she made a wish at the springs for a child
Myrtle's reaction—pale, trembling, silent—suggests the wish has a cost

Character Development

Ethel Monroe: This chapter shows Ethel at her most hopeful—pregnant, planning the nursery, imagining her daughter. But her hope is shadowed by the nightmares, the lingering odor, and her growing suspicion that the pregnancy might be connected to her wish at the springs. Her habit of repeating that she is Mrs. Monroe from Lanesborough and pricking herself with pins reveals a fragile sense of identity, as if she's playing a role in a life that doesn't quite feel like her own.

Myrtle: Her reaction to Ethel's confession is the chapter's most significant character moment. She's genuinely happy for Ethel, but the news that Ethel made a wish at the springs triggers a visceral fear. Her trembling hand and frozen silence suggest she knows something about the cost of the springs' miracles—something she's not willing to share.

Will: He's supportive and excited, immediately embracing the idea of fatherhood and offering his old cradle. His warmth contrasts with the unease that surrounds Ethel's pregnancy.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Wishes and their cost: The chapter explicitly connects Ethel's pregnancy to her wish at the springs. Eliza's letters show the springs granting cures and fame, but Myrtle's reaction—and her earlier warning that the water takes as well as gives—suggests every miracle has a price.

The water gives and takes: This motif runs through the chapter. The springs heal a limp, cure asthma, grant fame, and now seem to have granted Ethel a child. But Myrtle's fear implies the water will demand something in return.

Nightmares and haunting: Ethel's nightmares and the rotting odor that lingers after waking suggest something is following her—something that may be connected to the springs and the wish she made.

Identity and belonging: Ethel's whispered self-affirmations and her sense of being an actress playing a role point to a deeper unease about who she is and where she belongs.

Secrets and confessions: Ethel confesses her wish to Myrtle, but Myrtle's silence suggests she's keeping secrets of her own.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point in Ethel's story. Her pregnancy—the thing she wished for—is presented as both a miracle and a potential curse. The chapter sets up the central tension of the novel: the springs grant wishes, but at a cost that isn't revealed until later. Myrtle's reaction foreshadows the tragedy to come, and Ethel's nightmares and the lingering odor hint that something dark is connected to her unborn child. The chapter also deepens the novel's exploration of motherhood, identity, and the danger of getting what you wish for.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Ethel dismiss her physical symptoms for so long, and what does this reveal about her character?

Ethel attributes her queasiness, fuller breasts, and tighter dresses to the rich foods she's been craving. She dares not hope, suggesting she's been disappointed before or is afraid to believe the pregnancy is real. This reveals her cautious, self-protective nature—she'd rather explain away the symptoms than risk the pain of a false hope.

2. What does Myrtle's reaction to Ethel's confession suggest about the springs?

Myrtle's face drains of color, she sits frozen like a wax figure, and her hand trembles as she picks up her teacup. Combined with her earlier warning that the water gives miracles but also takes, her reaction suggests she knows the springs' gifts come with a price—and that Ethel's wish may have consequences she can't foresee.

3. How does the chapter connect Ethel's pregnancy to the springs' other miracles?

Eliza's letters describe the springs curing a limp, curing asthma, and granting a musician fame. Ethel's pregnancy follows the same pattern: she made a wish at the springs, and now she's pregnant. The chapter deliberately parallels her situation with the other miracles, setting up the question of what the water will take in return.