In Chap­ter 55 titled “Grass Flow­ers,” set in 1970, the scene unfolds with Jodie com­fort­ing Kya as they return to her home after a sig­nif­i­cant, unnamed ordeal. The descrip­tion vivid­ly paints the wilder­ness sur­round­ing them, empha­siz­ing Kya’s deep con­nec­tion to her nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment and the solace it brings her, espe­cial­ly as her old shack comes into view, a sym­bol of famil­iar­i­ty and sanc­tu­ary. Upon arrival, Kya’s actions—rushing to touch famil­iar objects in the shack and spread­ing crumbs for the gulls on the beach—highlight her long­ing for the sim­ple, com­fort­ing rit­u­als that define her exis­tence. Despite her iso­la­tion, these actions reveal a pro­found con­nec­tion to the liv­ing world around her.

The inter­ac­tion between Kya and Jodie reveals the depth of Kya’s iso­la­tion and the strain of recent events on her psy­che. Jodie’s attempts to offer com­fort and com­pan­ion­ship are met with Kya’s insis­tence on soli­tude, under­scor­ing her self-reliance and the deep scars left by betray­al and social ostracism. The ref­er­ence to Kya being acquit­ted of mur­der hints at the grav­i­ty of her recent tri­al, a fact that has evi­dent­ly reshaped her inter­ac­tions with the out­side world and her inter­nal land­scape.

As the day fades, Kya’s soli­tude allows her to recon­nect with her pas­sion for paint­ing, yet her art­work now reflects a dark­er, more tumul­tuous inner state. Her emo­tion­al break­down sig­ni­fies a com­plex mix of relief, anger, and unre­solved trau­ma. Despite Jodie’s well-mean­ing efforts, sym­bol­ized by the home­made chick­en pie, Kya retreats fur­ther into her­self, seek­ing solace not in human con­nec­tions but in the nat­ur­al world and her mem­o­ries, includ­ing a poignant rec­ol­lec­tion of a gift from Tate—a char­ac­ter whose sig­nif­i­cance is hint­ed at but left unex­plored in this chap­ter.

The chap­ter clos­es with a moment of intro­spec­tion and a glimpse into Kya’s resilience and will to con­tin­ue her soli­tary but rich exis­tence. It sub­tly shifts per­spec­tive to Tate, reveal­ing his prox­im­i­ty and his inten­tions, sug­gest­ing an unre­solved rela­tion­ship and a poten­tial recon­nec­tion. The chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly weaves togeth­er themes of iso­la­tion, the heal­ing pow­er of nature, and the com­plex­i­ties of human rela­tion­ships against the back­drop of a marsh­land teem­ing with life, serv­ing as both a char­ac­ter and a refuge.