55 pages • 1 hour read
Kristina McMorrisSold on a Monday
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.
Chapters 24-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 24 Summary
Lily and Geraldine meet up with Ellis at the rooming house. Geraldine asked the sanitorium to say she was dead to protect her privacy. She is well because Dr. Summers tested and treated her efficiently, and gave her a job. Since her husband died from lock jaw and the children left, her work gave her purpose. She sold the children to the Millstones because she was sick and scared; but she never spent the money and made Millstone promise to keep the children together. She now wants only to know her children are safe; she does not want them back. Ellis assures her they are. When Geraldine leaves, Lily insists they get her children back to her, reminding Ellis that the children were never really for sale.
Lily knows how much difference one person can make. She conveys how her father defended her decision not to give Samuel up for adoption after she became pregnant before senior year. After the birth, with adoption papers signed, when she changed her mind her father helped her to keep Samuel. Without his help the adoption agency would not have allowed it. Ellis now understands what she wants and why, and agrees that the Dillards will need their help to reunite.
Chapter 25 Summary
Walker asks Ellis to meet him. Ellis tries to convince Walker that despite his reservations when hiring him, Ellis deserves his high salary and is working hard and meeting deadlines. But Walker asked another reporter to complete Ellis’s last assignment. Ellis apologizes and tells Walker that he had personal matters to attend to. Walker reminds him that perceptions matter.
Ellis leaves to meet Millstone, who is happy to talk to Ellis about his career. After 15 minutes, Ellis asks about Millstone’s family life. Millstone says he left California for family reasons. Millstone ends the meeting because he must leave for a business trip to Chicago. Even though Ellis made up the reason for the interview, he considers pitching the story.
Millstone is a nice person, which leads Ellis to wonder if he should continue with the plan, since Ruby and Calvin are settled into their new home and Geraldine does not want her children back. He questions whether he and Lily are continuing only “for the sake of their own consciences?” (186). Ellis understands Lily’s situation and why she feels as she does. But he also knows that similar situations can have different endings. Perhaps, Ellis thinks, “life was just how it should be” (186).
Chapter 26 Summary
Lily tells her mother some of details about the Dillards, but not Geraldine’s name, before she leaves Samuel to interview Sylvia (Mrs. Millstone). At the Millstones, Lily meets Claire, the housekeeper, who is around 16 years old. Lily explains that she is a reporter whose colleague interviewed Mr. Millstone, although Mrs. Millstone is not expecting her. Lily is then brought to Sylvia, who appears to be in her mid-30s. Sylvia shares some stories about her daughter.
When Sylvia asks what more she can tell Lily for her story, Lily admits she wants “to speak about Geraldine Dillard” (193), the mother of the two children Sylvia is looking after. But Sylvia has only one daughter, she says. Lily, who tells Sylvia that she is referring to the boy and girl that Millstone bought, realizes that she should have used the word adopt, since the mood changed. Sylvia is upset and drops her tea cup and saucer on the floor. Claire runs in and Sylvia needs to lie down, and they leave the room. Lily notices that the mantlepiece photographs include only girls. Where is Calvin, Lily wonders?
Chapters 24-26 Analysis
Both Lily and Ellis are making sacrifices to continue the search to reunite the Dillard family. Lily is leaving Samuel to pursue the investigation. And even though she confides in her mother some of the details, she is still doing reporting work without telling Trimble or Clayton. Ellis is continuing his investigation of Millstone without telling Walker exactly what he is up to. Walker is concerned that Ellis is not working as hard as he should be, especially given his wage. Ellis reassures him that he is, but also leaves a meeting with Walker telling him only that he has an interview in New Jersey.
The meet-up with Geraldine provides crucial information, and a better understanding of what Geraldine is willing to sacrifice for the well-being of her children. Geraldine is a mother who put her children first. She did not surrender her children for money; rather, she did it because she thought they would have a better life, since she was ill and scared. Her story only further supports Lily’s contention that she and Ellis are the only hope for the children to reunite with Geraldine.
Lily is also aware that her reporter’s intuition is working but her interview skills still need some attention. She interviews Sylvia Millstone, but soon discovers that although Millstone promised to keep the children together, in another plot twist, Calvin is not with the family.
