Elizabeth is Missing

“The broken lid of an old compact, its silver tarnished, its navy-blue enamel no longer glassy but scratched and dull. The mildewed mirror is like a window on a faded world, like a porthole looking out under the ocean. It makes me squirm with memories.” 

Maud finds Sukey’s old compact buried in the dirt outside her best friend Elizabeth’s house. The discovery makes her “squirm with memories”: Since Sukey’s disappearance, Sukey’s belongings are precious to Maud, and they evoke memories of Sukey as a beautiful, vibrant young woman. The discovery of the compact has an added significance because it is an important clue to Sukey’s whereabouts.

“ […] I’ve begun to find that, being with Elizabeth, laughing with her, is the only time I feel like myself.” 

Elizabeth is Maud’s only remaining friend because “the others are in homes or graves” (6).

Maud is aware that her disease is robbing her of her memories and her sense of self. In sharp contrast to many other people she encounters in the book, Elizabeth is kind, patient, and understanding of Maud’s limitations.

“I forget things—I know that—but I’m not mad. Not yet. And I’m sick of being treated as if I am. I’m tired of the sympathetic smiles and the little pats people give you when you get things confused, and I’m bloody fed up with everyone deferring to Helen rather than listening to what I have to say.” 

Maud is reacting to Helen sighing when Maud tells her, once again, that Elizabeth is missing. Despite her general confusion, Maud is aware of how people are treating her, and she’s angry about it.