58 pages • 1 hour read
Kristin HannahNight Road
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 18-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 18 Summary: “2010”
Six years later, Zach is in his second year of medical school and lives with Grace in a cabin on Pine Island. Jude hasn’t improved despite her efforts with therapy and medication. She no longer tries to control her grief or life, so she controls her emotions and lives by a rigid routine. Zach and Grace arrive at the Farradays’ house one night for dinner. Like the rest of her family, Grace is serious and rarely smiles. When Zach hangs up his backpack, he touches Mia’s green cardigan, which remains by the front door. The adults sit down to talk while Grace plays by herself. They discuss Grace’s invisible friend, Ariel—the girl’s only friend because she doesn’t fit in well with other children. Jude offers to pick Grace up and feed her dinner tomorrow so that Zach can attend his study group. Miles and Zach are cautious about trusting Jude because she sometimes forgets about Grace in her grief and because tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of Mia’s death.
Jude wakes up the next morning to a beautiful day. She travels to downtown Seattle for an appointment with her psychiatrist, Dr. Harriet Bloom. Jude likes Dr. Bloom because she rarely smiles, doesn’t speak of healing and hope, and can prescribe medication. Dr. Bloom asks Jude if she will do anything to mark today’s anniversary, but Jude won’t because she doesn’t see how it will make a difference. Dr. Bloom then asks about the last time that Jude and her family celebrated anything, and Jude says that she just wants help getting through today.
That afternoon, a teacher, Mrs. Skitter, leads Grace and the other daycare children to the beach. Grace walks off alone and talks to Ariel, not caring that the other kids make fun of her. A boy named Austin eventually asks Grace if she wants to play hopscotch. Grace responds that Ariel, a princess, can’t play, so Austin makes fun of her. Grace punches him in the nose, so he runs to tell on her. Mrs. Skitter approaches Grace after taking care of Austin and talks to her. She tells the girl that she knew her dad when he was in high school and promises that Grace will make friends. Mrs. Skitter and Grace spend the next two hours looking for shells until Miles shows up because Jude forgot to pick up her granddaughter.
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary
After 71 months, Lexi is finally getting out of prison, but she fears the life waiting for her. She knows that she’s going to Florida to live with Eva and Barbara, but nothing else is certain. Lexi says goodbye to Tamica, and a guard takes her to a desk where she signs some papers and receives her few possessions. She changes into the clothes in which she came to prison, though she’s much thinner now. Eventually, she finds herself in the open air for the first time in over five years. Scot arrives to pick her up, not wanting her to be alone. Lexi thanks him and tells him that she earned a college degree in sociology. Scot drives to his office on Pine Island and gives Lexi $100 from Eva and a bus ticket for tomorrow morning. Lexi declines Scot’s offer to stay with his family, preferring to stay in Scot’s office. Scot says that Lexi should fight for joint custody of Grace, but Lexi is hesitant because of her experience with her mother. She tells Scot that Grace deserves better. Lexi then borrows Scot’s bicycle and rides around the island, noting the changes that occurred while she was gone. She then rides to Mia’s memorial on Night Road. Lexi pauses when she nears the Farradays’ house, but approaching headlights cause her to ride on. Lexi returns to Scot’s office after dinner and finds a note from him explaining that Grace attends the morning kindergarten class along with a picture of her daughter.
After breakfast the following morning, Lexi goes to the thrift store and buys a new outfit. She then walks to the elementary school and watches Jude drop off Grace, noticing their lack of affection. She also sees Grace’s slumped shoulders, dragging feet, and lack of interaction with anyone as she enters the building. Lexi finds a patch of grass and waits for Grace’s recess. Grace is the last to leave the building when the bell rings and stands by herself. Lexi walks along the fence, watching her daughter, and realizes that the little girl has no friends. Grace looks at her mom, so Lexi waves. Grace waves back, but the bell rings again; she runs back into the building. Lexi can’t ignore Grace’s unhappiness and decides to stay on Pine Island.
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary
Jude picks Grace up from school and takes her home to the cabin. Grace watches TV while she waits for Zach. Two hours later, Zach arrives. Jude tells him that she made meatloaf and potatoes au gratin for dinner and leaves. Jude comes back to Zach’s house the following day and makes breakfast. Zach asks if she and Miles will watch Grace this afternoon so that he can go to his study group, and Jude agrees. Miles arrives after his run, and he and Zach discuss medical school as they eat. Watching Zach help Grace with her waffle gives Jude hope that her family will laugh again someday. After breakfast, Grace goes outside to her playhouse, which overlooks the sandy beach behind the cabin. Jude watches her granddaughter play as she finishes the dishes and makes a chicken casserole for Zach’s dinner. Jude sees movement outside when she’s done cooking and cleaning, so she opens the sliding glass door. She sees Grace talking to someone, and when she recognizes Lexi, she falls to her knees, grabbing her chest.
The novel goes back in time slightly to Lexi’s perspective. Lexi rides her bike to the park where Zach first told her that he loved her. She walks along the beach until she sees Zach’s cabin. She sees Grace playing alone and approaches her, staying hidden in the trees. Grace recognizes Lexi from school, and Lexi says that she knew Grace when she was a baby. Lexi then asks Grace about her grandma, and Grace says that Jude hates her because she looks like her daddy’s dead sister. They continue talking until Miles suddenly yells at Grace to come inside. Grace says goodbye and runs into the house. Lexi leaves to talk to Scot.
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary
Jude goes to the hospital because she thought that she was having a heart attack, but it is just a panic attack from seeing Lexi. Jude tells Miles that she thought she saw Lexi, but he tries to convince her that she imagined it, reminding her that Lexi got out of prison in November but never appeared as they’d expected her to. Zach rushes to the hospital and asks Miles how his mom is. Miles explains the situation and that Jude thought she saw Lexi, which shocks Zach. Zach takes his daughter home and puts the casserole in the oven before taking a shower. Grace tries to talk to her dad about her new friend, but he’s too tired and overwhelmed to listen.
Lexi tells Scot about how the Farradays treat Grace and the girl’s invisible friend. Lexi feels guilty for abandoning her daughter and questions her logic in thinking that Grace was better off without her. In the end, Lexi decides to file for joint custody of Grace. The next day, Jude confirms with Miles that she did see Lexi talking to Grace. Miles calls his lawyer and learns that Lexi was released two days ago because they added time to her sentence for “bad behavior.” Jude feels that they must keep Lexi away from Zach and Grace. She makes an emergency appointment with Dr. Bloom. Jude tells her psychiatrist about her panic attack and its cause. Jude tells her that she’s worried about Zach and won’t let Lexi be a part of her family again. Dr. Bloom reminds her that Lexi is already a part of their family. Jude realizes that she needs to talk to a lawyer, not a psychiatrist, and leaves the office.
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary
Jude calls Miles and tells him to meet her at Zach’s house. She then drives to Grace’s daycare to pick her granddaughter up. When she arrives, Mrs. Skitters tells Jude that Grace is with Lexi. Jude goes outside and confronts Lexi, telling Grace to go to another adult. Jude asks Lexi to leave, but Lexi says that she needed to see her daughter. Jude then offers Lexi $100,000 to leave her and her family alone. Lexi explains that she gave Grace to Zach because she loves her daughter and trusted Jude, Zach, and Miles to be her family. However, Grace isn’t happy and doesn’t feel loved. Lexi then says that Grace is her equivalent to Jude’s Mia, and she wants her daughter back.
Lexi walks back to Zach’s cabin, feeling guilty for destroying the Farradays, but she also feels hope. She moves to Grace’s playhouse and sees Zach walk through the sliding door. They approach each other, and Lexi tells Zach that she had to see Grace and know that she was happy. He asks Lexi why she never answered his letters, and she says that it would be better if they forgot each other. When Lexi realizes that she wants Zach to kiss her, she stumbles backward and accuses him of letting her go to prison. Zach knows that she hates him, but he asks her not to for Grace’s sake. A car pulls into the driveway, so Lexi leaves. When Jude sees Zach’s face, she knows that she’s too late and that Lexi was already there. She calls her lawyer and schedules a meeting with him to fight Lexi’s petition for joint custody, determined to protect her son.
Part 2, Chapters 18-22 Analysis
Lexi’s character arc in this section relates to the theme of The Influence of Loss. The reader learns that Lexi’s substance use and “bad behavior” earned her six additional months in prison. This behavior demonstrates Lexi’s continued battle with loss, both of her best friend and her daughter. Lexi’s struggle in prison is described with little detail; as another example of a time shift in the novel, this represents Lexi’s desire to move on from her experience. Once Lexi sees Grace’s unhappiness and Jude’s unwillingness to connect with her granddaughter, Lexi decides that she wants to fight for her little girl and be a mother to her. This decision demonstrates another shift in Lexi’s character. Now 24 years old and free from prison, Lexi wants to live with her daughter. She knows that the fight for custody won’t be easy, but her willingness to do what’s best for her daughter signals how Lexi has developed and adapted to her circumstances. Furthermore, Lexi’s struggle in prison parallels The Influence of Loss on Jude. Though seemingly different, the two women suffer and see themselves as unfit mothers. Once they realize the error in this thinking, they can both heal and move on, as demonstrated in the remainder of the novel.
This section introduces Grace, Lexi’s daughter. Hannah uses Grace to highlight the character development of Jude, Zach, and Miles after the passage of six years. Grace is solemn and doesn’t smile because she’s growing up in a family torn apart by grief. Instead of being as active in her granddaughter’s life as in her children’s, Jude can barely look at Grace because she looks so much like Mia. Jude willingly helps Zach by picking the girl up from school and daycare and ensuring she’s fed and taken care of, but Jude only goes through the motions and often forgets that Grace exists when she becomes overcome with grief. She doesn’t play with or show affection to her granddaughter, so their relationship is superficial and lacks genuine love. Hannah contrasts this relationship starkly with the relationship between Jude and her children at the beginning of the novel. Grace notices her grandmother’s lack of attention and affection, which profoundly impacts her self-image. She doesn’t have friends, knows that she’s different, and doesn’t fit in with the other children at school. Grace’s lack of friends parallels both Mia’s and Lexi’s struggles with making friends, creating an intergenerational sense of The Influence of Loss. Grace struggles through her isolation alone until she meets Lexi and learns that she’s her mother.
Hannah uses Grace’s loneliness to explore the theme of The Power of Motherhood. Grace’s only friend is Ariel, an imaginary alien princess stuck in a jar. Grace can only communicate with Ariel through a small mirror that Zach created for Grace to wear on her wrist. This mirror is a symbol of Grace’s loneliness; by looking in the mirror, she looks at herself and not another person, real or imaginary. The little girl seeks Ariel’s help and support whenever she is alone or stressed. Once Lexi enters her life, Grace notices that Ariel isn’t always there for her when she needs her. Ariel will disappear if Lexi is around, demonstrating The Power of Motherhood to dispel Grace’s loneliness. Hannah’s use of an imaginary friend heightens the reader’s sympathy for Grace. Lexi becomes angry at the Farradays, whom she feels has failed at caring for her daughter. This tension and conflict will continue to build as the novel nears its climax in the next section.
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