William Grey
Margaret's husband, whose modest household belongs to the adult life Chris does not remember.
To preserve the ordinary married life he and Margaret have built under financial strain.
The book
At a glance
- Margaret Grey
- Working-class household
- Dick, deceased
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeWilliam Grey is Margaret's husband. His modest home stands in sharp contrast to Baldry Court and to the romantic place Chris assigns Margaret in memory.
The novel gives him less interior space than the central quartet. His presence matters because Margaret is not simply waiting unchanged inside Chris's lost youth.
How the book draws them
- Modest householdHis life is defined by work and limited means.
- Present husbandHe complicates Chris's recovered romance.
- Outside elite judgmentBaldry Court reads his home through class.
- Reserved placeThe narration does not grant him Chris's romantic centrality.
Chris's cure ends the recovered relationship with Margaret, returning both to the adult marriages and losses the amnesia had suspended.
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