History Made and Erased

This flow examines how the novel’s public accounts leave out private experience, linking Jenny’s story to older histories of incarceration and class power.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Story Designed for News

A Story Designed for News Pauline as Headline Pauline’s face and family background make her a ready-made public story, while the lives of her captors remain less legible. Reporters seek a revelation that can make the lost year into one coherent narrative. The Unseen Companion Jenny’s work and choices remain mostly outside the public account, even when they shape Pauline’s fate.

The Older Incarceration

The Older Incarceration A Family’s Displacement Jim Shimada and his parents are incarcerated by the federal government during World War II. The experience shapes Jim’s anger and affects the daughter who later encounters a public history her father has rarely described. Memory Across Generations The history persists even when the people most affected cannot easily speak of it.

The Newspaper Magnate’s Estate

The Newspaper Magnate’s Estate Wealth in the Landscape Anne Casey studies the estates created by Pauline’s family and the power that stands behind their apparent beauty. The houses suggest histories of money and exclusion that are absent from Pauline’s polished public portrait. A Missing Counterhistory Records about servants, labor, and the people excluded from these places remain incomplete.

A Newsletter from Wildmoor

A Newsletter from Wildmoor A Small Record Survives Anne Casey gives Jim a local newsletter praising Jenny’s restoration work at Wildmoor. The modest notice reaches him as proof that Jenny built a life far from the public account of her disappearance. A Story Without Headlines The document preserves a fragment of Jenny’s labor that the larger story would otherwise discard.

The Lost Year Reframed

The Lost Year Reframed Competing Accounts Legal testimony, television images, and remembered conversations offer incompatible versions of Pauline’s year underground. Jenny’s own experience cannot be made to fit neatly into either the victim story or the revolutionary story. What Goes Missing The novel leaves many connections unresolved, treating omissions as part of how history is made.

During Pauline’s disappearance

1942 to 1947

During Anne Casey’s investigation

After Jenny’s arrest

After the trials