However, she was also secretly excited that all of her children were now out of the house.Īlmost as soon as the couple returned home, Mercy gathered up her belongings and started moving into the art studio she rented. When Robin finally confessed that he was depressed about David's departure, Mercy seconded her husband's feelings.

On the way home, the couple barely spoke. In 1970, Mercy and Robin drove their last child, David, to college in Islington, Pennsylvania. Throughout the years to come, unresolved tensions from the family's trip to the lake continued to linger without discussion. Meanwhile, Alice took up family responsibilities including making meals and caring for her seven-year-old brother, David. Robin was distracted by his new friendship with a man at the lake. Mercy was preoccupied with her private art practice. Lily was distracted by her new romance with a college boy named Trent. Throughout the trip, Mercy, Robin, and their three children, Alice, Lily, and David, struggled to get along. They spent a week at a lake house together as a family. In 1959, Mercy and Robin Garrett took their first family vacation to Deep Creek Lake. Although the novel frequently shifts between different eras and locations, the following summary employs a linear mode of explanation. The novel is set in a variety of settings, including Maryland and Pennsylvania, and spans decades of time. Knopf, 2022.Īnne Tyler's novel French Braid is written from the third person point of view and in the past tense. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Tyler, Anne.

The french braid anne tyler