The Invisible Hour

by Alice Hoffman

By the time she was sixteen her mother considered Ivy to be the bane of her existence.

Ivy had never thought about having a baby, children were of no interest to her, but now what was important in the world had changed.

she found Noah in his dorm room, unpacking. He’d been away all summer, traveling with his parents in France, and somehow, he had not connected with Ivy after his return to the States. The truth was, there were other girls he found more interesting, ones who didn’t have so much baggage and were more sophisticated in sexual matters.

Reckless with Noah. Doesnt care.

when she announced that she was pregnant, Noah had no response. He appeared blank and fuzzy-headed, the way he did when he’d had too much to drink.

Damn

Ivy had thought they were in love,

Im 50/50 on feeling bad for her.

Disappointment and distance. Noah was still in the room with her, but it was as if he’d already left.

What did he have to do with it?

Boy, EVERYTHING, wtf?!

She’d heard about a community where people were respected for who they were and not expected to be who their families wanted them to be.

Ivy had disappeared so completely it was as if she had been swallowed whole by the earth. The private detective Ken hired couldn’t find her until ten months later, when she was living out in rural Massachusetts, past Blackwell on some run-down farm where she’d already given birth to a baby girl.

Ok wtf is happening loool

Ivy had fallen in with a cultish community run by a crackpot

lmao WHAT

compelled members to sever all ties with their families of origin, completely cutting off contact.

Ok, Ivy, are you good

“She married him.”

Oh lord, I wonder what happened: if she genuinely married him bc she wanted to or if she was misguided into "loving" him or both???? Ivy can't distinguish right from wrong which is problematic.

If he had gotten into his car and driven three hours, Ivy might have run to him with the baby in her arms, grateful beyond measure. She might have cried and told him she’d made a mistake. She might have forgiven him for slapping her and refusing to help her when it mattered most. They could have forgiven each other, and the future could have been something they shared, but instead Ken Jacob went into his study, and he locked the door, and he never said her name aloud again.

Ivy’s heart broke when Evangeline took Mia from her arms. Ivy was still scheduled to feed her, and those were the most precious hours of her day. There was a rocking chair by the window in the nursery with a lovely view, but Ivy never looked outside. She held the world in her arms, and when her visit with Mia was over, Ivy stood outside the children’s house crying. Some women saw her and reported her, and she was summoned to Joel’s office. “You have to be an example,” he told her. “You can’t break the rules.” Children belong to everyone.

Jesus, I already hate this

No photographs were taken, that would have been sheer vanity, but those in attendance remembered what a beautiful bride Ivy had been. On this day, she wore her hair unbraided, falling down her back. Joel was waiting for her at the altar, a broad smile on his face.

ight weird but ok

The only sound was made by little Mia, who let out a cry. But Evangeline covered the baby’s mouth with her hand to quiet her and when she did three birds flew across the pale sky. One for the present, one for the future, one for the past.

Seems like some sort of metaphor reflecting Ivy's life. Mia being her; Evangeline, a respected woman of the community, silences her. And then the birds…well, I dunno yet.