Chapter 54: Joyce

Joyce reflects on a recent fall in Fairhaven, when strangers immediately helped her: a cyclist lifted her up, a traffic warden gathered her belongings, a mother with a pushchair sat with her, and a café owner brought tea and offered medical help. The memory leads Joyce to conclude that most people are fundamentally kind.

Joyce contrasts that kindness with a cruel consultant she once worked with at Brighton General, a man who bullied nurses and blamed others for his own mistakes. She admits that if that consultant had died in front of her, she would have felt satisfaction rather than grief.

Joyce then applies the same judgment to Ian Ventham, whom she sees as selfish, entitled, and cruel. Although Joyce acknowledges that speaking ill of the dead is frowned upon, Joyce feels Ian belongs among the rare people whose death does not inspire sorrow in her.

Joyce reasons that people die every day, and if someone had to die, she would rather it be Ian than any of the kind strangers who helped her, or the people she loves at Coopers Chase. Elizabeth believes Ian was killed, and Joyce trusts Elizabeth’s judgment.

The chapter ends with Joyce clarifying that she does not want to sound callous; Joyce has seen many deaths and cried many times, but not for Ian Ventham. Instead, Joyce turns toward the practical consequence of his death: helping solve Ian’s murder.