There are so many things that tie these chapters together, it's fun. Sebastian, you're suggesting she had Lincoln before she remet Drew, but I don't see any hint of that at all. She doesn't care about what she steals but that she's giving people some of the misery she had.Īlso on page 200 in Chapter 10, Sasha talks about Naples where 'there were kids who were just lost.' Then in Chapter 11, which is in Naples, on page 214, just before the space break, are the words, 'She was lost.' She was one of those kids, as she says in Chapter 10, that might not 'get back to what they'd been, or have a normal life.' Her life certainly isn't normal in the first two chapters, but it's more normal than Naples. It makes sense that in Chapter 1 she still steals, as that's what she was forced to do in Naples, a dark time for her, so by stealing from other people, it's as if subconsciously she's showing other people some of the darkness she went through. If 2011 is the earliest she marries Drew (twenty years from 1991), then the first two chapters of the book are when she's single, long past Naples.Ī couple of points as I'm rereading a few chapters. Thus I have 15 years from 1993, which equals 2008 for Chapter 1.

On page 194, she says she hasn't stolen anything in two years, which means she's two years out of Naples when she was 18. Sebastian, where did you get that Sasha is 21 in Chapter 10? I have her at 20. Coincidence? I'm feeling as if I'm in Egan's novel now. Otherwise, he went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where my new novel, LOVE AT ABSOLUTE ZERO is set. So at minimum, if 'fifty-some' is 52, and you add that to 1968, then you get 2020.Īs an aside, I also found out that Steve Miller took part of his junior year at the University of Copenhagen in 1963, twelve years before I went there and bought one of his albums (I was desperate to hear some American songs). The band's second album was in late 1968, which had 'Living in the USA' in the top 40, so that's the first time the band was really popular. I just researched, and the band's debut album was in May 1968. I don't know if I used that somehow.Īnother clue just now that I did not use before: on page 249, Alison says the Steve Miller band was popular '50-some years before.' I had part of my junior year at the University of Copenhagen in 1975, and that band was very popular then (because I bought a Steve Miller album there). On page 235, Alison gives the year as 202_, so I know I'm in the right decade.

Sebastian, for Chapter 12, I wrote down it was 2021 when I read the book, and now I'm trying to find out how I came to that.

A visit from the goon squad