Chap­ter 22 unfolds against the harsh back­drop of 1923 Ken­tucky, where Margery O’Hare remains impris­oned in a small, dim­ly lit jail cell, await­ing tri­al with her new­born daugh­ter, Vir­ginia. The con­di­tions of the jail are unforgiving—damp walls, freez­ing tem­per­a­tures at night, and an over­whelm­ing sense of con­fine­ment that suf­fo­cates its inmates. Despite these hard­ships, Margery finds solace in her daugh­ter, pour­ing all her love and ener­gy into Vir­ginia, as if shield­ing her from the world’s cru­el­ty through sheer deter­mi­na­tion. Moth­er­hood offers Margery a sense of hope, even as she faces the grim real­i­ty of a tri­al that is stacked against her due to the town’s prej­u­dices and lin­ger­ing hos­til­i­ty.

Alice and the women of Bai­leyville refuse to aban­don Margery, vis­it­ing her reg­u­lar­ly and offer­ing sup­port wher­ev­er they can. Alice splits her time between the library, her per­son­al respon­si­bil­i­ties, and ensur­ing Margery and Vir­ginia are not com­plete­ly alone in their strug­gles. The library, which once sym­bol­ized the free­dom and empow­er­ment of women, now serves as a reminder of what Margery has lost, at least tem­porar­i­ly. Mrs. Brady, rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of the library’s work, steps in to over­see dai­ly oper­a­tions, allow­ing Alice and the oth­er librar­i­ans to focus on ral­ly­ing sup­port for Margery’s defense. Each woman fights in her own way—whether through com­fort­ing vis­its, legal advo­ca­cy, or sim­ply ensur­ing Margery’s mis­sion con­tin­ues in her absence.

Mean­while, Sven strug­gles with con­flict­ing emo­tions, torn between his unwa­ver­ing love for Margery and his grow­ing frus­tra­tion over her refusal to fight hard­er for her­self. He is pre­pared to do any­thing to free her, but Margery, con­vinced that the town’s bias­es will not allow her a fair tri­al, begins to men­tal­ly pre­pare for the worst. Margery’s fear is not just for her­self but for Vir­ginia, who would be for­ev­er marked by the scan­dal sur­round­ing her mother’s impris­on­ment. Believ­ing that stay­ing in Bai­leyville would only lead to fur­ther suf­fer­ing for her child, Margery makes a painful, self­less decision—to send Vir­ginia away with Sven so that she can have a fresh start, free from the stain of her mother’s sup­posed crimes.

Sven, though dev­as­tat­ed by Margery’s choice, knows she is act­ing out of love rather than defeat. Tak­ing Vir­ginia in his arms, he promis­es Margery that he will raise their daugh­ter well, no mat­ter what hap­pens. Tears well in his eyes as he steps out of the jail, know­ing it may be the last time he sees the woman he loves. The emo­tion­al weight of the moment is unbear­able, with Margery refus­ing to cry or beg for anoth­er outcome—she remains stead­fast, choos­ing to suf­fer alone rather than risk her daugh­ter being ostra­cized because of her. As the heavy iron door clos­es behind Sven, Margery final­ly turns away, cut­ting her­self off from vis­i­tors, unwill­ing to endure more good­byes.

With Vir­ginia gone, Margery retreats into iso­la­tion, her spir­it strong but her hope dwin­dling. Though Alice and her friends con­tin­ue to fight for her release, Margery no longer allows her­self to believe in a pos­i­tive out­come. She has seen too many injus­tices to place faith in the legal system—a sys­tem that has repeat­ed­ly failed women like her, who dare to be inde­pen­dent and out­spo­ken in a world that pun­ish­es them for it. Yet, deep inside, there is a flick­er of some­thing resem­bling peace, know­ing that her daugh­ter has a chance at a dif­fer­ent life, even if it comes at the cost of her own.

The chap­ter high­lights the com­plex themes of sac­ri­fice, jus­tice, and the unbreak­able bond between a moth­er and child. Margery’s choice is not just about survival—it is about ensur­ing that Vir­ginia does not inher­it the same strug­gles that have defined her own life. Her will­ing­ness to let go demon­strates not weak­ness, but strength, show­ing the depth of her love and the bur­den of the choic­es women must make in the face of an unfor­giv­ing world. As the chap­ter clos­es, the loom­ing tri­al casts an even dark­er shad­ow over Bai­leyville, leav­ing the read­er in sus­pense over whether Margery’s sac­ri­fice will be in vain or if jus­tice will pre­vail against over­whelm­ing odds.