51 pages • 1 hour read
One Summer in Savannah: A Novel
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Chapters 23-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary: “Sara”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, illness, rape, and sexual content.
On the day of Daniel’s interview, Sara takes Alana to the bookstore to try to insulate both of them. In the afternoon, Birdie comes to the store. Sara quickly sends Alana to the store next door and then approaches Birdie. Birdie accuses Sara of lying about the rape. Sara prickles, expecting to feel the same shame and rage she felt at the trial, but “the venom of her words is no longer a death sentence” (355). Sara can calmly insist that she told the truth. Birdie leaves, and Sara is surprised that instead of anger, she mostly feels sadness and sympathy for Jacob and even Birdie.
A short time later, some children throw bricks and rocks through store windows, including the bookstore’s windows. Sara is terrified at first and rushes next door to check on Alana. The police arrive quickly, and then Jacob comes bursting in through the broken window, rushing to Sara and Alana like a protective father. He comforts them and arranges to have the police talk to Sara later. He brings them home in his truck and assures Sara that he’ll make sure the windows are repaired. Alana falls asleep on the way home, and after Jacob carries her upstairs, he gets ready to return to the store. Sara touches his face, filled with desire to be closer to him, and they have sex. Afterward, he gets dressed to go take care of the store, and she asks if he’ll come back, but he reassures her that the time away had nothing to do with her.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Jacob”
It’s early in the morning when Jacob and other community members finish boarding up all the shop windows. He waits in his truck in front of Sara’s house and falls asleep. Sylvia taps on his window, wakes him about an hour later, and brings him into the house and makes breakfast. Sara and Alana come in and tell the story of the windows the previous night. Sylvia figures out the new chemistry between Sara and Jacob and takes Hosea and Alana with her to clean up the damage to the store. Jacob and Sara embrace and kiss. They agree to go away to his cottage for a day or two to explore their new relationship. Suddenly, Jacob remembers that he has to go to the prison to see Daniel that day, and Sara tells him it’s okay to leave.
He sees Daniel in prison shortly before he’s released. When Daniel enters the visiting area, his declining health is more obvious than before. Daniel says that he knows he’s going to die, which forces Jacob to accept it as truth. Daniel says again that he wants to fall in love before he dies but that he doesn’t have time. He tells Jacob that he’s going to die, never having done anything of importance or value. Jacob tearfully decides to tell Daniel the truth about Alana. Daniel reacts with fury that Jacob chose Sara over the Wylers. Daniel taunts Jacob about Sara, and Jacob launches over the table and punches Daniel multiple times before the guards separate them.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Sara”
Sara talks to Sylvia about Jacob, and Sylvia pushes her to consider telling Daniel about Alana before Daniel dies. Sara doesn’t budge, saying that Daniel doesn’t deserve to know that he made such an amazing person. Sylvia agrees but suggests again that Alana might deserve to know about Daniel and Birdie. Sylvia also tells Sara that she suspects that Jacob has paid for all the renovations at the bookstore.
Jacob comes over with a black eye and blood on his shirt from the fight with Daniel. He tells Sara that Daniel is dying and that he is losing his last sibling. Sara says that she and her family can be his family. Jacob confesses that he told Daniel about Alana, breaking his promise. Sara feels deeply betrayed and makes him leave.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Jacob”
Jacob picks Daniel up from prison and brings him to the cottage. Jacob tells Daniel that Sara isn’t speaking to him because of the broken promise. Daniel responds very differently this time, saying that Sara did the right thing keeping Alana a secret and that he won’t try to see her or tell Birdie about her. Jacob shows Daniel a picture of Alana, and Daniel says that he finally knows what it’s like to fall in love. They spend the night talking about Jacob’s career and Alana. Daniel tells Jacob to make sure that she knows the truth about Daniel. He wants her to know that he did a terrible thing, not to protect her from the truth, and to make sure that she has a balanced life with love in it.
The next day, they return to Birdie’s house in Savannah. Jacob gets a call from Sylvia saying that Hosea is in the hospital. Daniel collapses as he tries to get out of the car.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Sara”
The doctor tells Sara and Sylvia that although this wasn’t the event that would kill Hosea, it’s likely that they’re getting closer to his death. Hosea improves overnight and is insistent that they open the bookstore, but Sylvia and Sara refuse, staying with him instead. On the third day, Sylvia tries to convince Sara to contact Jacob, but Sara refuses, saying that he broke his promise. Sylvia pushes again, arguing that the promise should never have been made. She goes in to see Hosea, and he asks, in poetry, about Jacob. Sara says that she’s not speaking to him because he told Daniel about Alana. Hosea gently quotes Cummings to Sara, slowly urging her to forgive and embrace her love for Jacob.
After a short trip home to shower and change, they return to the hospital, and Jacob is waiting outside of Hosea’s room. Alana runs to him, and he hugs her with one arm and Sylvia with the other. Alana and Sylva go into Hosea’s room, and Sara looks at Jacob. She recognizes that she needs him and loves him, and she forgives him for the broken promise. He tells her that Daniel is out of prison and in the hospital. She tells Jacob that she doesn’t want him to have to choose between his family and her.
Jacob tells her something else: His father left money specifically for Sara and her family before he died. It includes money for Alana’s school and Sara’s future, and he insists that she accept it. He tells her that it was the money that paid for the renovations to Hosea’s store and that it was the reason he originally went to see Hosea. He also gives Sara a letter from Hosea. It is not in poetry but in simple English. Jacob wrote it while working with Hosea to help him express what he wanted to say to Sara in the event of his death. She is overcome and tells Jacob that she loves him. He tells her that he loves her too, and he returns to his brother upstairs.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Jacob”
In Daniel’s hospital room, Birdie dotes on him. The doctor has made it clear that Daniel will die soon. Daniel tells Birdie that he raped Sara and that she has to accept the truth. She rages initially, but then Daniel tells her about Alana and that she’s proof of what happened. Birdie insists on meeting Alana, but her vitriol against Sara triggers Jacob’s anger, and he refuses to allow it. Daniel tells Birdie that they have no right to know Alana. Birdie storms out of the room and falls to her knees when she sees Alana in front of her in the hallway.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Sara”
Sara accepts that this is Alana’s last chance to meet her birth father and acknowledges that her daughter has a right to know where she came from. Sara brings her upstairs to Daniel’s room. Birdie comes out of the room and lowers to her knees, staring at Alana. Jacob steps out, worried, and checks on Sara, who says it’s okay. Alana asks if Birdie is her grandmother and then hugs Birdie tightly. Birdie gets up with Jacob’s help and approaches Sara. Birdie thanks Sara and then says she’s sorry. Sara says that they’re both mothers trying to protect their children. Alana goes into Daniel’s room as Sara watches from the hallway and meets her father.
Chapters 23-29 Analysis
These chapters include the novel’s climax and resolution. Most of the novel builds tension until there are several climactic moments, all in the last section of the novel. Birdie’s visit to the bookstore is the initiating climactic event. The years of tension between Sara and Birdie culminate in Birdie’s confrontation with Sara at the bookstore. Sara’s biggest fear, besides Alana’s existence being discovered, was coming face-to-face with Birdie. Birdie behaves exactly as Sara expected and tries to shame and silence Sara. However, Sara has overcome her fears in increments, from returning to Savannah, to letting Alana know Jacob, to allowing Marsha to meet Alana. As a result, Sara is strong enough to withstand and refute Birdie’s accusations. In doing so, she even begins to empathize with Birdie, instead of seeing her as the enemy, demonstrating her ability to see The Impact of Sexual Violence on a perpetrator’s parent.
The sexual encounter between Jacob and Sara breaks the erotic tension that has been building since Sara took care of Jacob at his cottage. Jacob and Sara’s relationship has been slowly building throughout the novel. However, several more elements must fall into place to justify the requisite happy ending required in a romance novel. Jacob and Sara coming together initially indicates that they have moved beyond the tensions and conflicts related to Jacob’s family, especially in light of Jacob’s time away to process. The next major conflict, though, is the untenable promise that Sara demanded of Jacob initially. Jacob believes that keeping Alana a secret permanently isn’t an option. Jacob’s choice to tell Daniel about Alana confronts the last major hurdle in their relationship. That resolves with Jacob’s arrival at the hospital, which shows that even in the worst circumstances, Jacob will always show up for Sara and Alana. Sylvia’s reinforcement of Jacob as a fundamentally reliable character in her argument that Jacob should never have had to keep secrets from his family further resolves the character and narrative conflict.
The novel ends with thematic focus on The Complex Nature of Forgiveness. Jacob forgives his family, Sara forgives Jacob for breaking his promise, and Sara can extend a measure of forgiveness to Birdie and Daniel. Jacob’s forgiveness of his mother and brother begins with the fight with Daniel. Jacob explodes when he focuses on the full extent of Daniel’s cruelty, as he raped Sara. The physical altercation between the brothers, however, releases Jacob’s anger, allowing him to acknowledge the truth of Daniel’s illness and imminent death. That clarity allows Jacob to look beyond even his brother’s worst acts. He does so to find a space to honor his familial relationships, though they are with imperfect people and someone who has committed a sexually violent crime. Jacob’s willingness to accept Sara’s judgment and rancor to be honest with and support her family when Hosea is in the hospital proves his inherent trustworthiness and dependability. After discovering courage that she didn’t know she had to interact with Birdie, Sara is finally ready to forgive Jacob, not just for breaking a promise but also for being a Wyler. This leads directly to Sara’s realization that some nature of forgiveness toward Daniel and Birdie is necessary to have a happy ending and stable family with Jacob and Alana. If Jacob has to ignore or lie to his family and Alana is not allowed to meet her father before his death, Sara’s relationships can’t be successful. Harris depicts her choice to forgive Daniel and Birdie enough to let Alana meet them as a necessary step toward the future.
Although the major conflicts are resolved at the novel’s end, Harris chooses to end the novel before either Hosea or Daniel dies. The choice to end the novel with union and forgiveness rather than death reinforces The Shifting Definition of Family. Part of the reason why Sara can forgive Daniel is because he will die soon. While this causes a time-based sense of pressure, it also allows Sara to focus on increased healing, acknowledging that her rapist’s death is imminent. With Daniel out of the picture entirely, she understands that there is no real risk to either Sara or Alana. Thus, she also acknowledges the importance of her daughter meeting her father for the first and last time. In doing so, Harris depicts a moment at the end of the novel where both families are connected and close to whole. Alana meets Birdie and Daniel in the hospital while Sara and Jacob are in the hallway, and Hosea and Sylvia are a few floors down. The novel ends with both families under one roof and aware of one another’s existence. Despite the violence that Daniel and the Wylers caused Sara in the past, in the present, the characters focus on healing, even as death is imminent.
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