Contents
Chapter Fourteen
Overview
Allen recounts his conventional aspirations, marriage to Annie, and their dependence on Annie’s mother, Vivienne, in a Hampstead Heath cottage. After intimacy with Annie ends and Vivienne dies, Allen turns to paid sex. One escort, Sandra (“Tulip”), offers to step into the household as a domestic helper and caregiver.
Summary
Allen describes a chaotic childhood with a bipolar father and pill-dependent mother, which fuels his yearning for a traditional, orderly family life. He falls for Annie as a teenager, waits until she is older, then marries her. They live with Annie’s parents in a Hampstead Heath cottage while Allen works at John Lewis and Annie trains as a nurse.
With Vivienne’s devoted support, Allen enjoys a pampered domestic ideal: home-cooked meals, tidiness, and freedom from “grubby” tasks for Annie and their children. Jessamine and Jasper are born, but the demands of parenthood strain Annie, even with Vivienne shouldering most childcare.
After their second child, Annie withdraws from sex due to pain and fear; Allen refuses a lover and instead pays for impersonal encounters with escorts. He rationalizes this arrangement as compatible with his family-man image while maintaining the pristine home life he craves.
When Vivienne’s health declines and she dies in 2000, domestic burdens visibly fall to Annie, unsettling Allen. He confides in a regular escort, Sandra (professional name “Tulip”). Sandra claims she can cook, keep house, manage the children, and “take care” of Allen, effectively proposing to join the household as an au pair-like presence.
Who Appears
- AllenNarrator; traditionalist husband and father seeking order, uses escorts after Annie ends intimacy.
- AnnieAllen’s wife; nurse trainee, later mother of two, withdraws from sex after complications.
- VivienneAnnie’s mother; provides extensive childcare and housework until illness and death in 2000.
- JessamineAllen and Annie’s daughter; her birth marks increased household strain.
- JasperAllen and Annie’s son; his arrival compounds parental pressures.
- Sandra (Tulip)Escort who offers to move in as domestic helper and caregiver, including for Allen.