56 pages • 1 hour read
Rosie WalshGhosted
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Chapters 46-51Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 46 Summary
At Alan’s urging, Eddie is preparing for his first Tinder date. It’s his mother’s birthday, so they have lunch together and see a couple that makes her stop eating and who he recognizes vaguely. Realizing that it’s Sarah’s parents, he again wonders who died when he saw the funeral procession if not one of them. Sarah’s mother takes a phone call, and they both leave hurriedly. Carole is disgusted, and they leave the restaurant with her claiming that her birthday has been ruined and refusing to eat even when they arrive back to her home. As Eddie moves to leave, Carole begins to admit something. Haltingly, she finally tells him that Sarah has been back in England for six months and is pregnant, which she learned from Hannah. Eddie begs for details and learns that Sarah has been depressed and unwilling to share the identity of the child’s father. Carole at first refuses to give the due date but finally reveals that it was six days previous, making Eddie the father. She reluctantly tells Eddie where to find the Harringtons’ number, which he takes as a very small but significant gesture. When they aren’t home, he obtains Hannah’s number from Alan but finds that her phone is turned off. He finally goes to their house, and Hannah’s husband tells Eddie which hospital Sarah is in, having been in labor for two days.
Part 3, Chapter 47 Summary
Eddie grows increasingly frantic as he drives to the hospital in traffic. He thinks of what Sarah must have been going through and is gripped with love and fear. He now understands how Sarah felt for her sister when she swerved to prevent the car accident.
Part 3, Chapter 48 Summary
Unable to gain entrance to the ward, Eddie finds a waiting area. He notices a family in the waiting area—Tommy, Jo, and Rudi—and realizes who they are. Tommy recognizes him, and they speak, but Tommy doesn’t have any updates to give him. Eddie paces in panic and eventually starts reading his text messages from Sarah and writing belated replies declaring his love.
Part 3, Chapter 49 Summary
In a daze from the pain and exhaustion of labor, Sarah attempts to think of happy times. She thinks of her recent interactions with Hannah but returns to thoughts of Eddie and her baby. Hannah tells her that Eddie is outside and that he’s sorry, as doctors are telling her that the baby is in distress and she’ll need to have a Cesarean section.
Part 3, Chapter 50 Summary
A nurse enters the waiting room to tell Eddie that Sarah has had a boy and both of them are healthy. She tells him that he can return during visiting hours tomorrow, and he goes outside, ecstatic. Sarah sends several messages telling Eddie that their son is beautiful, that she loves him, and to come and see her tomorrow.
Part 3, Chapter 51 Summary
Returning to Sarah’s perspective, the chapter opens with another anniversary of the accident, this time accompanied by Eddie and her son, whom they have named Alex. On this anniversary, they have decided to have a welcome party, in lieu of a christening, for Alex. All their family and friends, including Javier and Jenni, are in attendance, except for Carole. However, she unexpectedly arrives and eventually speaks to Sarah for the first time, thanking her for her grandson.
Part 3, Chapters 46-51 Analysis
As Eddie realizes that Sarah is back in the UK and that he is the father of her child, he experiences a stark and immediate change to his perspective: “The last few months of stoicism, of Doing the Right Thing, have now been stripped back to the lunacy, the blind masochism they always were” (308). As Eddie releases his obligation to protect his mother by staying away from the woman who caused Alex’s death, his sense that it is impossible to be with Sarah is abruptly replaced by a sense of certainty. Walsh draws on the theme of The Search a Romantic Soulmate, which is represented by Eddie’s single-minded determination to get to Sarah.
Walsh also emphasizes the theme of Fear, Pain, and Love in Parental Relationships as he experiences such a strong feeling of love and fear that he finally begins to understand Sarah’s action, even though it resulted in the death of his little sister: “It was love and fear that made her wrench that steering wheel” (314). Eddie experiences the same sense of love and fear as he drives to the hospital and waits to see Sarah and his son, unable to get into the delivery ward or obtain any news. Walsh provides vivid sensory descriptions of Eddie’s anguish at waiting, this time from Eddie’s perspective. For example, he describes “intense waiting in the key of fear minor” (319). This musical metaphor recalls the “old bass line” that Sarah feels in Part 1, emphasizing the fact that he is now feeling the fear and love that Sarah felt. In addition to visceral descriptions, the narrative structure builds suspense as Eddie—and the reader—waits for details about Sarah’s state.
Eddie’s decision to reread Sarah’s messages and start belatedly replying symbolizes a shift from the ghosting and long lapse in communication to the inevitability of love. That Sarah and Eddie’s reconciliation takes place in part in the form of text messages emphasizes written communication as an important motif throughout Ghosted and resolves the sense of written communication signifying things left unsaid and uncommunicated. Walsh concludes the novel with several significant descriptions that conclude its key themes, including the shift that both Sarah and Eddie have experienced through parenthood. Sarah says, “I had no idea I could love anything, or anyone, so much” (330) and suggests that Eddie’s drastic shift in his relationship with his mother has been caused by his new responsibility to his son. Alongside these characterizations of complex parental emotions, Walsh also emphasizes the certainty that Eddie and Sarah feel for each other: “this is how it should feel” (329). Despite the reason for and the experience of ghosting, Walsh represents an eventual and complete reconciliation for Eddie and Sarah. Walsh therefore suggests that love and parenthood has offered a reprieve from the trauma of the past and from the burden of secrecy.
