A Fall of Marigolds

Taryn is one of the narrators and protagonists of the novel. She works in a fabric store, having gone to school to study the history, design, and manufacture of textiles. On the surface, Taryn seems to be a happy, independent, successful, and modern woman of the early 21st century. In reality, Taryn is numb. She lost her husband, Kent, in the 9/11 attacks, and though this memory obviously causes her pain, it is one she is able to tamp down until the release of photographs of her taken that day in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. When she sees the scarf she had with her that day, she immediately flashes back to and relives the horrors of the attack.

Taryn is consumed by guilt. She believes her husband Kent’s death is her fault and is tormented by what might have been. She tries to replay that day repeatedly, wondering what would have changed if she had never asked Kent to meet her for breakfast to tell him she was pregnant, or if she had not forgotten her cell phone, or if she had been on time to meet him. Taryn takes refuge in the concept of chaos, the idea that she had no control over what happened, and neither did anyone else. The scarf’s reappearance, however, challenges that belief and forces her to consider ideas of fate and destiny. Taryn’s rapid change in attitude, her willingness to accept that fate might have a role in what has happened to her, reflects the many years she had silently tortured herself with a series of “what ifs.” She finally realizes that she called Kent because she loved him and wanted to share with him this amazing news, the evidence of their love for each other. It is this realization that finally allows her to move on.

Taryn seems much less developed than the other characters, especially Clara. The reader does not get as much background detail on Taryn as they do on Clara, and the bulk of the text deals with Clara’s story. There is a sense that whoever Taryn might have been prior to 9/11 died that day, and she was not reborn until she accepted that she was not responsible for Kent’s death. Taryn admits as much, noting that her pregnancy and Kendal’s birth less than a year later gave her a focus that allowed her to pretend none of that happened. The reader is left with the sense that Taryn will finally allow herself to be a whole person again and maybe even love again, after she pays her respects to the person she was.

Clara is the second of the two main protagonists and narrators, and perhaps the most fully developed character in the novel. Meissner provides her with a great deal of backstory, including her previous love interests and her motivations for becoming a nurse. Clara is fiercely independent, almost anachronistically so considering that even in 1911 young women did not have quite as much freedom as Clara seems to have. It is this sense of independence that led her to come to New York, and it is that independence that Clara is mourning as much as she is mourning Edward, though she does not seem to realize that at first.

Like Taryn, Clara is tormented by survivor’s guilt, but unlike Taryn, she does not have other memories of Edward to hold onto during her grief, or the birth of a child to distract her. Instead, she is further tormented by the idea that she is being foolish, that she did not have a right to grieve Edward; after all, they had never even been out on a date. Unspoken is Clara’s fear that people will see her as a foolish and immature girl, blowing things out of proportion, and building a grand and tragic romance out of a few minutes of flirtation in an elevator. In fact, Clara has done this before with other men, and she is unwilling to undergo that kind of humiliation and pain again.

It is this fear, more than her love for Edward, that spurs Clara to numb her emotions in her work, much as Taryn was able to numb her emotions in motherhood. Unlike Taryn, however, Clara seems much more physically disabled by her grief than does Taryn. There is a moment, for Taryn, when she considers allowing the dust to choke her, to be with Kent. She soon remembers her unborn child, however, and quickly acts to save herself. Clara, on the other hand, seems dangerously close to wanting to die: She does not feel lucky to have escaped the fire, and she dreams of choosing to join Edward in the fire. This attitude, combined with her inability to leave the island, is what frightens her friends and family. Fortunately, circumstances force Clara to confront her fears much faster and more intensely, which returns her to that sense of independence she first felt when coming to New York. Like Taryn, Clara realizes that though love might be painful, a life without it is not a life at all.

Ethan is a new doctor on Ellis Island, and it is clear from his first introduction that he will serve as a love interest for Clara. Ethan is kind and intelligent, and he is drawn to Clara’s compassion for her patients. However, he is not so blinded by love that he fails to note when Clara’s behavior with Andrew becomes unprofessional. Ethan is also a man of integrity, demonstrated by his willingness to help Clara even though he believes her to be in love with Andrew. He helps her overcome her fear of leaving the island and gives Clara the time she needs to heal, allowing her to go to Scotland instead of pressuring her to stay even though her departure wounds him. 

Dolly is Clara’s best friend and roommate on Ellis Island. Dolly is strong and opinionated. She cares deeply for Clara and is frustrated by Clara’s refusal to face what Dolly believes is the truth: Clara may have loved Edward, but Edward did not love Clara. Nonetheless, she is fiercely protective of Clara, revealed by her consultation with Ethan about Clara’s anxiety over leaving the island. A willingness to face Clara’s wrath indicates that she loves Clara more than she worries about her own happiness. Dolly is not a romantic but a realist; she serves as a foil to Clara. Dolly believes that the truth is always the solution and has little time for the nuances of thought and feeling that so often worry Clara. Despite this, she does her best to help Clara and wants nothing but the best for her.

Andrew is a soft-spoken young man from Wales, traveling to the United States to join his brother as a tailor in New York. Andrew meets his wife, Lily, two weeks before he is to leave for America, only to lose her to scarlet fever during the journey. Like Clara, Andrew is worried about being thought a fool for jumping so quickly into a relationship and worries that he has no real right to grieve. He and Clara gravitate naturally to each other, and Andrew is greatly comforted by Clara’s discussion of her feelings for Edward and its parallels to his own situation. Andrew is quiet and sensitive, demonstrated by his modesty with Clara, his interest in poetry, and his quick understanding of how his relationship with Clara might be misinterpreted. 

Edward was the accountant for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Only 24, Edward was charming, handsome, and kind. His final act was to hold the hand of a young, frightened girl as they jumped from one of the windows, trapped by the fire. There is an indication that Edward was as much of a romantic as Clara, as he had fallen for a young woman and become engaged to her, even though it was clear to everyone else that she did not love him. For a short period of time, the reader might mistake Edward for a villain. The revelation that he was engaged to another woman but still acting flirtatiously with Clara seems to indicate that he was playing with a young girl’s affections. However, Clara learns that he did have feelings for her, which redeems his character.

The audience never meets Lily, who dies before the story really begins. Her behavior haunts the rest of the story, as it is her scarf and her decision to marry Andrew that serves as a catalyst for much of the action. Lily is a battered wife, forced to marry the cruel Angus, and plans her escape by marrying Andrew, hoping to lose herself in the bustle of New York and escape both her real husband and Andrew forever, a plan foiled by her death before she reaches New York. Clara empathizes with Lily, though she hates the predicament in which Lily has placed Andrew and the way Lily could have hurt him had Lily lived to carry out her plan. Nonetheless, Lily serves as a symbol of independence, and her actions have the most influence on all the women in the story.

Mick is a florist, and he helps save Taryn’s life on 9/11, first by rushing her into his delivery van and sparing her from the dust and rubble that covered the streets when the tower fell, and then by getting her to the hospital. He resembles Clara in that he is concerned about the feelings and hopes of someone who is almost a perfect stranger. Much like Clara goes out of her way to ensure that Andrew will never know the truth about Lily, Mick tries to track Taryn down for 10 years to give her the message that Kent had sent that morning. However, whereas Clara knows that her feelings of attraction to Andrew are a product only of their shared grief, the attraction between Mick and Taryn seems to have a future, a sense that Mick’s dedication will be rewarded.