Hannah — Chapter 22

Hannah wakes at 7 A.M., head aching from champagne and vodka. Charlie murmurs that he left the drinking game early, but when Hannah tries to initiate sex he rejects her, aggravating her simmering resentment and stirring comparisons with Will’s attention and last night’s intimate talk with Olivia. Unsettled, she leaves the bedroom.

Downstairs, Aoife—already organizing the day—suggests a safe walking route and warns about the bog. Outside, Hannah passes the marquee but drifts to the neglected graveyard, pausing at a tended child’s grave, Darcey Malone, “Lost to the sea,” before Aoife redirects her to the path.

On the ridge, Hannah calls home. She talks with her mum and son Ben, learns daughter Lottie only overate cake, and hears her mother admit this time of year is hard—a reminder that also triggers Hannah’s memories of her fragile sister, Alice. Preoccupied, Hannah loses her bearings on the return and strays into boggier ground.

Hannah misjudges a leap and begins to sink, the peat swallowing both boots. Panicked, she struggles and screams into the wind until ushers Duncan and Pete appear. After a tense beat, they each take a hand and haul her out—Hannah losing a boot to the bog. Shaken, filthy, and uneasy about their tone and the isolation, she hurries back toward the Folly.