48 pages • 1 hour read
Seraphina Nova GlassOn a Quiet Street
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “Cora”
The surveillance camera that Cora ordered arrives. Before she can attach it to a tree near Georgia and Lucas Kinney’s house, Finn comes home early. He accuses her of going to his office, leaving flowers with a threatening note, and stealing his laptop because his coworkers saw a woman with blond hair in his office. She shows him receipts proving that she was running errands all day. She leaves in anger and decides to give herself a makeover before her first night playing piano at Grant’s restaurant. The piano night goes well. After the restaurant closes, she and Grant talk about Caleb. Then, they kiss, but they stop themselves before it goes any further. Cora leaves and drives home. Before she goes in for the night, she attaches the surveillance camera to a tree in the front yard of the Kinneys’ residence.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Georgia”
On Friday morning, Georgia readies her escape. When Georgia sees Cora leave her house across the street, Georgia rushes over and asks Cora for a ride into town. Cora agrees. Georgia tells Cora to drop her off at a restaurant, but as soon as Cora drives off, Georgia rushes into a pawn shop across the street. The appraiser tells her that the gold watch she has is fake and worthless. Devastated and desperate, Georgia steals a ring off the counter, but she is quickly caught by the workers. The police arrest her and hold her at the jail with Avery. She has given them the stolen ID with the name June Barrett as her own. Georgia asks the police to contact Cora on her behalf to bail her out of jail.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Paige”
Paige has gone through Finn’s laptop and taken everything she needs from it, so she leaves it on his front porch. She has used his email to contact Charlotte and arrange a lunch meeting with her at a restaurant. That afternoon, Paige surprises Charlotte at the restaurant and interrogates her. Charlotte tells Paige that she has been having an affair with Finn for two years and that she was out of town the night Caleb was killed. After the lunch, Paige stealthily follows Charlotte to Finn’s office and watches her break up with him in the parking lot. Then, Paige decides to go to Cora and tell her everything that she learned from her research.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Cora”
That evening, Finn returns home from work in a bad mood. Cora is making dinner, and she and Finn argue about his suspected infidelity. Finn suggests that Cora needs psychiatric care and storms out. Mia overhears the argument and asks Cora if they are going to get a divorce. Cora reassures her. Then, Mia reveals that she has suspected that Finn is unfaithful for some time. She also tells Cora that Caleb was dealing drugs, including pot, and that Finn would buy from him. Mia admits that she had a crush on Caleb and that they spent a lot of time together as friends. Then, Cora’s phone rings; it’s the police calling on behalf of “June” (Georgia) to ask if Cora will bail her out.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Georgia”
Cora arrives at the jail and plays along with the June alias that Georgia has given. She bails Georgia out of jail. On the way back, Georgia tells Cora about how Lucas has imprisoned her in the home. Cora tells Georgia that she can stay in the “mother-in-law unit by the pool in the back of the house” until they can make an escape plan (198). However, as they pull up, the police are already there; Lucas has reported Georgia and Avery missing. Cora pulls over a few blocks away and has Georgia and Avery hide in the trunk. Cora gets through the police check and pulls around to the back of the house. Georgia sneaks into the unit, and Cora brings her some food and shows her the gun cabinet. Georgia reveals to Cora that her real name is Nicola Dawson, but Lucas had her change it so that he could better control her.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Paige”
Paige sees Cora return from shopping for supplies for Georgia/Nicola and goes out to talk to her. Paige has a box of all of her research on Finn with her. Paige shows Cora all of the photographs and emails proving that he has been cheating. She tells Cora that Finn lied to the police that he and Caleb were only acquaintances; they had been texting frequently. Also, when Paige saw Finn at the bar the other day, she realized that he was wearing the same UMass baseball cap as the man with whom Caleb had been arguing a few days before he died. Paige shows Cora evidence that Finn had front bumper damage on his car repaired the day after the hit-and-run. When Cora interjects that Mia had caused the damage, Paige shows that Finn paid Mia $500 that same day, suggesting that Finn paid Mia to say the damage was her fault. Paige also shows Cora that Finn paid Caleb $1000 the day before the accident. Paige wants to ask Georgia/Nicola if Lucas really was home all night the day of the accident. She still suspects Lucas, which is why she placed a recording device in Lucas’s briefcase. However, she hasn’t been able to retrieve it. Although Finn looks suspicious, Paige and Cora still have some questions about what exactly happened the night of Caleb’s murder.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Nicola”
Cora goes back to talk to Nicola. She tells Nicola that Lucas’s first wife died in a suspicious drowning. Then, she tells Nicola about the recorder that Paige has hidden in Lucas’s briefcase. Cora thinks that they can use it to prove Lucas’s abuse of Nicola definitively. Paige comes into the unit and tells Nicola that, with Nicola’s help, Paige can break into the house and retrieve the recording device. Then, Paige asks Nicola if her statement that Lucas was home all night when Caleb died was true. Nicola thinks about how she arrived home late that night and Lucas wasn’t yet home. However, she lies to Paige and says that she doesn’t remember. They plan to get together the next night to plan and execute the break-in.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Cora”
Cora goes to bed and hears Finn come in late. The next morning, she makes a big breakfast spread. When Finn comes to the table, he sees the pile of evidence of infidelity that Cora has put on his plate. He makes excuses for his behavior and tries to blame Cora for his actions. She asks Finn about the payments to Caleb and Mia. She asks if the money to Caleb was a payoff to keep quiet after he saw Finn getting a blow job in the car from another woman. Finn says that the money he sent to Caleb was to buy cocaine and the money for Mia was to keep quiet after she caught Finn with pot. However, he claims that Mia was the one who damaged the front bumper of the car. Cora is skeptical and leaves.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Paige”
Paige goes to the police station with the evidence that she has gathered about Finn. Detective Denning says that he will have Finn in to talk about it. As she leaves the police station, Paige is hopeful that she will get justice for her son, Caleb.
Chapters 17-25 Analysis
In this section, the theme of Accusations of Mental Illness to Dismiss Women’s Claims is further developed, primarily through the depiction of Cora and Finn’s relationship. Earlier in the text, Cora has struggled with her acceptance of Finn’s repeated claims that she is “paranoid.” Paranoia is a form of mental illness; it suggests that Cora’s beliefs about her husband’s infidelity are unreasonable and have no base in reality. In Chapter 20, Cora comments that “maybe [he] lent [his laptop] to one of your girlfriends and forgot” (189). This sparks Finn to react defensively, and he suggests she get psychiatric help. The multiple perspectives of the narrative clarify that Cora is correct and Finn is lying, thus characterizing Finn as an antagonist when he makes such suggestions to Cora. In Chapter 24, Cora finally confronts Finn with the conclusive evidence of his infidelity. Faced with this evidence, instead of apologizing for accusing her of being “crazy,” he doubles down on blaming her mental state for his actions, stating, “‘Men like sex, Cora. It’s not like you’re ever in the mood’” (226). Although he is ultimately unsuccessful in this maneuver, it suggests the extent to which men are emboldened to rely on misogynistic claims to minimize women’s allegations and experiences.
Cora chooses to confront Finn at the breakfast table. Throughout On a Quiet Street, cooking food is a motif that represents the love and care that the characters have for one another, even when that love and care is not reciprocated. In the first chapter in which Cora is introduced, she is shown making a large, beautiful breakfast for her family. In that moment, she reflects, “It’s Sunday, damn it, so everything should look nice, even if it’s just the three of us and I’m the only one who cares’” (20). When she finally confronts Finn about his behavior, instead of food on his breakfast plate, he finds “a stack of the photos and email printouts [about his affairs]” (225). This is symbolic, because she has replaced his home-cooked meals with evidence of his infidelity. She is no longer going to provide love, care, and affection to him. Instead, she is using this domestic tableau to call him to account for his actions. This is a moment of character growth for Cora. She screams at Finn, knowing that “he has never seen me like this before” (227). She is asserting her power and agency in the relationship by rescinding her love and domestic labor.
A source of Cora’s power in this moment is her friendships. The three women, Paige, Cora, and Nicola, rely on Female Friendships as a Source of Strength. Cora and Paige support Nicola at great personal risk to themselves. They justify their actions by stating that “[i]t’s what anyone would do” (202). Nicola, however, sees it differently, reflecting that “if these two think this is just what a friend does, I wish I could stay here forever and be their friend. They’re very lucky” (220). Their support of Nicola gives her the resources and means to escape her abusive relationship and even reclaim her own name—it is at this point in the text when the chapters told from this point of view change from the title “Georgia” to the title “Nicola.” Paige also demonstrates her friendship with Cora by providing her with the material about Finn’s infidelity. Although Paige had a secondary motive—to investigate whether Finn was involved in the murder of her son—she nevertheless informs Cora about what is going on and shows that this was a key motivation for her actions all along. This is portrayed as an act of care in the narrative and gives Cora the strength to confront Finn about his behavior.
