A God in Ruins

Bertie had gone on a date with a man named Angus. She hadn’t liked him but had gone home with him, and they had had drunken sex. As she walks home in the early morning, she sees a swan-necked barge being rowed toward her on the Thames. Angus is suddenly standing beside her, talking, but she doesn’t pay attention to what he says. She walks away, saying that she left her “real self” (423) on the train and has to go find her. At home, Bertie calls Viola at Poplar Hill, who is visiting Teddy on the day she left for the book tour. She talks to Teddy on the phone, asking him if he is enjoying the pageant. When she tells him that Sunny sends his love, Teddy makes a noise as if he might be choking. Later, Viola calls Bertie and tells her that they have been summoned to the hospital. 

Sunny teaches yoga at a place called the Bright Way in Ubud. Viola visits him while on a wellness retreat in Bali. She is surprised to see that he now has “[t]he physique of a dancer, the shaven head, the oriental tattoos, the wash of an Australian accent” (431).