Soon after moving into the flat he has rented from Haggerty, Bernard is faced with the arrival of Claire. For Claire, Bernard’s unexpected presence is part of the aftermath of Haggerty, like her baby son and her bitter memories. For Bernard (with two failed marriages behind him), Claire’s presence mirrors his own position. He is caught between his half-guilty sense of political impotence and his half-guilty resentment of his own ill-educated father’s narrowness.
