Runaway

There are eight short stories in the book. Three of the stories ("Chance", "Soon", and "Silence") are about a single character named "Juliet Henderson".

"Runaway" – a woman is trapped in a bad marriage.

"Chance" – Juliet takes a train trip which leads to an affair.

"Soon" – Juliet visits her parents with her child Penelope.

"Silence" – Juliet hopes for news from her adult estranged daughter Penelope.

"Passion" – A lonely small town girl flees a passionless relationship with an outsider.

"Trespasses" – Lauren, a young girl, meets an older woman, Delphine, who is too interested in her.

"Tricks" – Robin, a lonely girl, lives life alone due to bad luck and misinterpretation.

"Powers" – See below

Runaway

Carla fell for Clark. They both love animals, horses especially. Clark is handsome, lean, sought after. Carla thinks her family is too materialistic. She runs away with Clark. Turns out Clark is emotionally abusive and has a bit of a temper. Sylvia, or Mrs Jamieson, comes back from Greece. Her husband, a poet, is dead. Clark sends Carla to Sylvia's house as part of his scheme. Instead, she breaks down and confesses her anguish and disappointment about their marriage. Sylvia offers her an option. She runs away on a bus. She begins to have doubts. She calls Clark to pick her up. At night, Clark tells Sylvia not to meddle with his marriage. The two, hostile, become friendlier upon the return of Flora, a goat. It is implied that Clark kills Flora.

Chance

Halfway through June of 1965, the term at Torrance House School for Girls is over. Juliet has not been offered a permanent job—the teacher she was replacing has recovered from a bout of depression—and she could now be on her way home. Instead, she is taking what she has described as a little detour. A little detour to see a friend who lives up the coast.

Soon

Two profiles face each other. One, a pure-white heifer, with a particularly mild and tender expression, the other a green-faced man who is neither young nor old. He seems to be a minor official, maybe a postman—he wears that sort of cap. His lips are pale; the white of his visible eye is shining. A hand that is probably his offers up, from the lower margin of the painting, a little tree or an exuberant branch, fruited with jewels.

Silence

On the short ferry ride from Buckley Bay to Denman Island, Juliet gets out of her car and stands at the front of the boat, in the late-spring breeze. A woman standing there recognizes her, and they begin to talk. It is not unusual for people to take a second look at Juliet and wonder where they’ve seen her before. She appears regularly on the provincial television channel, interviewing people who lead notable lives, and deftly directing panel discussions, for a program called “Issues of the Day.” Her hair is cut short now, as short as possible, and has taken on a very dark auburn color, which matches the frames of her glasses. She often wears black pants, as she does today, and an ivory silk shirt, and sometimes a black jacket. She is what her mother would have called a striking woman.

Passion

As guided by the principal, the girl, Grace, goes to a lake-side town to be a waitress. There she meets a privileged college boy named Maury, and (old story) she doesn’t so much fall in love with him as she falls in love with his house and his mother. The rest of the family? A much older half-brother who is a doctor who drinks. The doctor’s wife and children. A sister who seems to like to get to the point and get herself outta there. Guests now and then. The Able Mrs. Abel, who keeps the house. And books, a lot of books.

It’s a summer idyll. The mother, Mrs. Travers, likes Grace so much she picks Grace up at work to come out to the house. There’s class, so much class: books to read and talk about, guests, word games, a servant. Maury adores Grace and has begun planning their life together. The livin’ is easy.

Trespasses

“Trespasses” is strange and upsetting. A couple keeps a baby’s ashes hidden in a cardboard box. No ceremony to mark the baby’s death has ever been held. No explanation has ever been given to the living daughter that there ever was even a first daughter.

It isn’t that the dead baby was unloved or unwanted. Eileen and Harry had adopted her. And Eileen had immediately become pregnant. Desperation ensued. Eileen could not imagine how she could manage two babies as well as, probably, the loss of her profession, which was newspapering. Late in the story we learn that Harry wanted Eileen to have an abortion. Harry and Eileen argued, Eileen ran off. In the emotional chaos, Eileen had not properly fixed the baby’s car seat, and in an accident, the baby died.

Eileen denies that she was drunk at the time. There is, however, evidence that she drinks quite a bit and that she and Harry fight quite a bit. They fight to the degree that they hardly notice the fact that their second child, who is 13 or so, is drifting. The family has just moved in an effort to start over

Tricks

“Tricks” opens with a 30-year-old older sister playing cards with a neighbor on the porch. Thus all of the negative connotations associated with “tricks” begin with her. Joanne is a likely bad guy, given that her severe and stunting asthma seems to have warped her character. In the first two pages she ridicules her 26-year-old younger sister several times, her “fund of contempt” fueling her standard relationship with the world. Robin is silent. Joanne is mean. But Joanne’s also a bit of a straw dog in the villain department. Yes, given their orphan status, Robin has to take care of Joanne. But does the role actually require Robin to limit her life or her self? Or has Robin actually made her own choice to be isolated and limited?

Powers

"Powers," the eighth and final story in the collection, is divided into five parts. The first part comprises the diaries of Nancy, a self-centered young woman convinced that she is destined to have some great importance. She startles the town doctor, Wilf, on April Fool's Day by pretending to have an illness; when she later tries to apologize to him, he unexpectedly proposes to her. Nancy, ashamed of her conduct, accepts his proposal although she feels little affection for him. She expresses surprise that her life has proved so mundane after all.

The second part shifts into third-person narration and takes place several months after the first part. Nancy and Wilf are engaged and preparing for their wedding. Wilf's cousin Ollie is in town to attend the ceremony, and Nancy becomes fascinated by his worldly affectations. In an attempt to impress him, she takes Ollie to visit Tessa, a friend of hers that lives on the outskirts of town. Tessa has psychic abilities that allow her to see through objects; she correctly identifies all of the items in Ollie's pockets. Ollie seemingly dismisses her, but Nancy fears that he is hiding a deeper interest. She writes Tessa, warning her to avoid Ollie. Tessa responds, revealing that she and Ollie have already eloped to the United States. They intend to get married and test her abilities scientifically.

The third part leaps forward into the 1960s. Nancy is now an aging woman visiting an American mental hospital. The facility is shutting down, but she has received a letter asking that she retrieve Tessa, who has lived there for some time. Nancy has no intention of doing so, and she arranges with the management to leave alone after she has spoken with Tessa. When the two former friends meet, Nancy attempts to learn about Ollie and his life with Tessa. Tessa, however, cannot remember anything; electroshock therapy has ruined her memory. She claims that someone may have strangled Ollie, but she recalls nothing else. Tessa then guesses that Nancy plans to abandon her at the facility. Feeling guilty, Nancy promises to write her after she leaves, although she never does.

The fourth part moves forward a few more years. Wilf has died from the complications of a stroke, and Nancy takes the opportunity to travel. She is in a large city when she randomly encounters Ollie. She and Ollie have a long discussion, in which he discusses his travels with Tessa in the United States. He says that funding for research disappeared after World War II, forcing him and Tessa to work on the

vaudeville⁠

circuit. The strain of performing gave Tessa horrible headaches and gradually eroded her powers, but she and he developed an intricate system with which to deceive their audiences. Eventually, Ollie says, Tessa died. Nancy does not contradict him. He drives her back to her hotel, and she opens her mouth to invite him up. Before she speaks, however, Ollie refuses. Nancy resolves to find Tessa and bring her to Ollie. She does not succeed.

The fifth part takes place decades later. Nancy has become an elderly woman whose children worry that she is living in the past. She falls asleep and dreams about Tessa and Ollie. They are staying at a motel; Tessa suffers from a terrible headache. In her mind, Tessa suddenly sees a pyramid of flies hidden behind the curtain. Excited that her powers have returned, she awakens Ollie, and they embrace. Ollie, however, worries that Tessa can sense the papers in his front pocket, which will commit her to a mental hospital. It is implied that Tessa does sense their presence. Nevertheless, she no longer cares what happens to her. Nancy then dreams that Ollie decides to spare Tessa. As she does so, a feeling of reprieve lights up her dream. Nancy is pulled out of it as her consciousness disintegrates around her.

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