69 pages • 2 hours read
Karen Thompson WalkerThe Age Of Miracles
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
By December, the days have expanded to 42 hours. Christmas celebrations proceed as usual in Julia’s household and around the neighborhood, and Julia’s mother takes comfort in the reassuring normalcy of rituals like hanging lights and baking cookies. Helen brings cookies to everyone in the neighborhood except for Sylvia and the other real-timers. Julia is now forbidden from speaking to any real-timer, including Sylvia. Despite this, Julia feels sorry for Sylvia and brings her a few cookies anyway. Julia observes that Sylvia looks tired and worn out.
While watching TV, Helen asks Julia if she ever thinks about boys. Although she has a crush on Seth, Julia demurs and dodges the question.
Later that evening, when Julia goes up to her room for bed, she spies on Sylvia’s home through her telescope. She sees a man with Sylvia, with his arm draped around her suggestively, and Julia realizes in an unanticipated burst of recognition that she “knew that man’s mouth” (128). Julia recognizes that it is her father in Sylvia’s house.
Chapter 17 Summary
As days approach 48 hours long, “certain clock days began and ended before the sun ever rose—or else began and ended before the sun ever set” (129).
