The Book of Regrets

Summary

• The chapter centers on Nora's encounter with a book called "The Book of Regrets", as introduced by Mrs. Elm.
• This book is a comprehensive record of every regret Nora has had since birth, and she gets the permission to open and read it.
• The book is organized into chronological chapters based on the years of Nora's life.
• Despite the chronological arrangement, the regrets she's accumulated do not align directly with the year they're associated with, as explained by Mrs Elm.
• Nora finds these regrets range from minor and everyday matters to substantial ones. For example, they span from regretting not exercising to regretting not expressing love to her father before he died.
• Some recurring regrets included not staying in The Labyrinths, not doing more for the environment, spending time on social media, not traveling to Australia with Izzy, and not telling her father she loved him before he died, among others.
• The intensity of these regrets vary. An example of this is her regret of not having children, which sometimes, was practically invisible and at others, bold.
• The final longer chapter of the book, covering Nora's 34th year, contains many regrets related to a man named Dan. These regrets are strong, bold and are related to treating Dan cruelly, breaking up with him and dreaming about living in a country pub with him.
• The chapter ends with Nora reflecting on Dan, her almost-husband.