CHAPTER 80

Summary

• The chapter is set in 1977, in Saint Bridget's, and opens with Mariamma in a taxi, reflecting on the truths she has been told about her identity and parentage.
• Mariamma still identifies with Parambil as her home, but recognizes now that a lot of what she believed about herself and her parentage was untrue.
• Despite the vast changes to the area around her childhood home due to new construction, the river - a remnant of her mother's past - remains.
• Mariamma visits Saint Bridget's leprosarium, requesting to see Digby and watching him perform surgery with a mix of admiration and frustration.
• Mariamma cannot help but be moved by Digby's skill and dedication to the patients, even as she grapples with feelings of anger and confusion about his possible role in the deception surrounding her parentage.
• A patient named Karuppamma is able to move her thumb for the first time following a surgery performed by Digby, creating a moment of joy and triumph.
• Mariamma reflects on her anger with Digby for potentially hiding the truth about their shared parentage and is about to confront him about it.
• Mariamma watches a woman on the leprosarium grounds from the window and listens to Digby speak about the physical effects of leprosy on facial expressions and eyes.
• As Mariamma prepares to ask Digby about her parentage, he anticipates her question and tells her that she looks just like her mother.
• Digby finally reveals to Mariamma that the woman they had been observing from the window, sorting millet in the sun, is actually Elsie, Mariamma's mother and Digby's long-lost love.