There were actually quite a few differences between the Audible version and the Kindle version. My Kindle version said “…intolerable burden of his grief” and the Audible version used the word “weight.”
My hardcover has “burden”. It’s always possible that the reader misread the text and no one caught it.
Or the reader only listened to the book on Audible? 
I really liked the chapter titles. Flipping through I just noticed that there is also a Part 1, 2 and 3. I wonder why she felt the need to do that as well. I blipped right past those divisions on the first reading.
Vaughan’s letter illustrates another way we relay our experiences — by paring down our stories instead of embellishing them. Vaughan strips his account of all emotion and detail, so as not to re-live the trauma of Amelia’s kidnapping. I liked the way this was described: “…the letters arranged themselves into words, regularly aligned, to make sentences and then paragraphs in which the loss of his daughter was contained” (p. 85).
This section of the book is yet another example of how the truth about Vaughan and Amelia is so much more apparent on a re-read. So many clues! He writes the letter over the objections of Helena, who wants him to wait, as it has only been 48 hours and she is still full of hope. Vaughan, of course, is not.
Yes, the big lesson for Vaughan is he needs to learn to tell more not less. But you can’t embellish the story so much that it loses it’s essential truth - which the guys at the Swan were inclined to do. I thought it was interesting that when Robinson arrived at the Swan, he’d been told the girl was dead. The real story hadn’t gotten out yet.
I found something delightful about the birth of Vaughan and Helena’s son – a scene that contains medicine, folklore, mystery and Charles Dickens all rolled into one. The baby is born with a caul, which was considered a good omen at the time (and for centuries prior):
This isn’t just a caul birth, but the rarest of them all, an “en-caul” birth. Per Wikipedia: “The ‘en-caul’ birth, not to be confused with the ‘caul’ birth, occurs when the infant is born inside the entire amniotic sac. The sac balloons out at birth, with the amniotic fluid and child remaining inside the unbroken or partially broken membrane.”
I read further on in the Wikipedia article, where they reprinted this wonderful passage from David Copperfield:
The caul is not only a sign of good fortune to come, it is a protection from drowning. The author is telling us that Helena and Vaughan’s child will live a long and blessed life, and will never meet the same fate as his sister Amelia.
^@mary13 what a discovery.
Did Setterfield mention the belief that this was a good omen? Such a nice thing to think that the Vaughan’s are destined for happy life after all they endured.
When I read about the baby’s birth in the amniotic sac, I thought of the men in the Swan Inn, discussing thr new ( Darwin) scientific “story” about people/ life/ humans coming from the sea.
Page 418
I was constantly thinking of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, as I read about the Vaughan’s Baby abduction, such a true life horror story.
And, if I could ask Setterfield to change one thing about the complicated book, would be to name the three missing children with vastly different names,the Ann, Amelia, Alice names were torture to keep straight.
That had to be on purpose though, right? To quote Bono out of context, “We’re one, but we’re not the same…”
So why the pig? Maud serves the same purpose as Mrs. Constantine. She listens and oftentimes it takes nothing more than a good listener to help someone sort through their jumbled thoughts. Does Maud have special abilities? I’d say no, other than being a sweet pig with an intelligent demeanor. Anything else falls under the category of working out problems by yourself (in this case aloud). Should Setterfield have made Maud a dog instead of a pig? No, I actually think a pig works better in the setting. Though I bet many a dog, horse, cat, etc. has filled a therapy role over the years.
^^^ I compared the role of Maud and Mrs. Constantine in the above post. I meant to add that after his second visit with Mrs. Constantine, Vaughn finally tells Helena the truth re Amelia. In much the same way, Lily, after talking to Maud, finally unburdens her soul re the (supposed) drowning of her sister Ann. Both Vaughn and Lily take that major - for them - step at the advice of their therapists. Granted Lily’s “therapist” is a pig and granted Vaughn has no inkling what a therapist even is. But still …
Maud’s disappearance also provides another opportunity to reveal Robin’s character (thievery) and creates a bit of mystery to add to the overall ambience.
I was amused by the fact that Armstrong immediately recognized Maud in the photograph. These little dudes all look pretty much the same to me: https://aghires.com/pigs-4th-intelligent-animal/
Back in May before discussion started, @SouthJerseyChessMom posted a clip about the collodion process. I just remembered to go back to it. Very interesting and made it easier for me to picture exactly what Daunt was doing. Here it is again for anyone who missed it earlier: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnxT4WQsLLM
If you google image search Diane setterfield and pig you will find a tweet of setterfield with her nephew and a pig like maid- she writes -
Can’t post it is against rules to post tweets
Diane Setterfield on the challenge of creating female characters that resonate with the modern reader, yet retain some historical accuracy:
That’s so interesting. I love Jane Austen, but sometimes I wonder what they do all day! Interesting view on trying to make Rita plausible and the difference between writing a 19th century novel vs a 21st century novel set in the 19th century…
I hadn’t realized the pig would be a sandy colored one. I was actually looking at a lot of pictures of pigs last February because I’m taking an ink brush painting class and this is the year of the Pig in the Chinese lunar calendar.
As I’m flipping through now, I see that the divisions represent the earth’s cycle. Part 1 is the Winter Solstice, Part 2 is the Vernal Equinox, Part 3 is the Summer Solstice, Part 4 is the Autumnal Equinox and Part 5 is the Winter Solstice again. In Part 5, we’ve come full circle, with both the story and the life cycle: The tale begins and ends at the inn, where “On one side of the wall Helena struggled to deliver her baby Into life. On the other side, Joe struggled to depart it” (p. 417).
Ooh and here I was thing Part 1 was at the inn and then they moved out. I do like that it begins and ends at the inn.
We’ve already talked about Charon, the ferryman to Hades. And in the interview that @SouthJerseyChessMom posted earlier, Diane Setterfield mentioned a couple other mythological sources:
But there was another story the book reminded me of that I couldn’t quite put my finger on…and then suddenly I remembered: The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. In that story, the young princess is "a strange child, quiet and thoughtful…her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose petal, her eyes as blue as the deepest sea.” She trades her voice for the opportunity to leave the sea and live among humans:
And then there’s this passage…
…which reminded me of Rita and Helena discussing how at ease the girl is by the river. Rita marvels that she shows no fear of the water, and Helena tells her, “She is born to it. She is in her element” (p. 179).
The Little Mermaid also has some beautiful, descriptive language about life on or near the water — sentences like: “The sun had just set as she lifted her head above the surface of the water, but all the clouds were still gleaming like roses and gold, and in the midst of the pale-red sky the evening star shone with such brightness and beauty, the air was mild and fresh and the sea absolutely still.”
Here it is, rather dark and strange like so many fairy tales: http://andersen.sdu.dk/moocfiles/littlemermaid.pdf
@Mary13 what a great link post #114, and also to the Little Mermaid, which I had not read. Thank you !
Mary13 are you waking in the middle of the night with these insights about the connection to the Little Mermaid and OUTR ? If so, well done.
The Little Mermaid trading her voice to become human, is so similar to Quietly’s mute daughter!
The Little Mermaid made me think that possibility Quietly’s daughter, even though “dead” perhaps really brought Daunt to safety of the Inn, yes, he was saving her, but the result was he found love and happlily ever after, very similar to the Little Mermaid.
Hans Christian Anderson makes the Little Mermaid mute but beautiful, and Setterfield treats woman’s beauty more than surface beauty,
From the Watertown article article - I love how Setterfield sees such clarity and beauty in the “naked” ( without makeup) faces of real women from the Victorian era, And, I especially loved how she made Rita’s face not classically beautiful, but anglular, good for the camera.
One more comment about the great Waterstone Interview about men and pubs. My sister and I often would lament, that men have bars and pubs to go to find comraderie, a community, My husband can sit at any bar and strike up a conversation with anyone near, usually about sports, but it’s a sense of community, unless he’s in Giants territory.
I could relate to her description about the pubs in her very small town of 400 residents,
Where do women find this ? Gyms, yoga classes, Starbucks ?