Although Stephanie urges Professor Diomedes to have Alicia’s therapy discontinued, he refutes it. Although Cristian and the Grove’s supervisor, Stephanie Clarke, see this attack as a consequence of reducing Alicia’s medication, Indira and Theo are optimistic and are of a view that the attack is a form of communication that Alicia is ready for therapy. However, this approach fails to work after Alicia attacks Theo during her therapy session. Nevertheless, Theo intended to lower Alicia’s dosage of her medication so that she can be more responsive to therapy. She is heavily sedated by her doctor, Christian, to ensure that she does not experience violent outbursts. In addition, the second part of the novel talks about Theo’s therapy sessions with Alicia. Out of guilt, Alicia tries to slit her wrists after killing her husband. She states that she will love him “until death do us part”- a phrase that she literary takes to heart as outlined by the author’s depiction of the cold-blooded murder of Gabriel in the first part of the novel. In her diary, she remarks on how she is inseparable with her husband. Alicia is ecstatic when Gabriel agrees to this idea. When Alicia gets home after one of their occasional dates, she asks Gabriel to pose for her so that she can paint him. Gabriel is described as an encouraging husband who has nudged and supported Alicia through her love for painting. The diary also outlines the passionate love that existed between Alicia and her husband before she killed him. She fears that she too might have her mother’s madness especially after subconsciously painting Gabriel on the cross, “Is her madness in my blood?” (Michaelides, 55). Alicia becomes melancholic as she remembers this incident.
Eva dies during this accident thereby leaving Alicia as the sole survivor.
The theme of mental health is outlined when Alicia describes how her mother, Eva, had suffered mental illness and had consequently attempted to end both their lives by driving her car through a brick wall. Alicia is sympathetic towards him as she wonders whether the man’s mother ever had a premonition that her son would end up being crazy.
It is while visiting the Camden Market that she finds a homeless man who appears to be suffering from mental illness. The diary describes Alicia as an outgoing character. Since she is astonished by her unconscious decision to paint Gabriel on the cross, Alicia decides to have a breather and leaves the house. However, instead of having the face of Jesus on the portrait, she paints Gabriel’s face in its place. She paints a portrait of Jesus on the cross. The author describes one of the paintings that she works on. In the subsequent days, Alicia moves around the house with the fan. He, however, sleeps through the fan’s whirring noise.
Gabriel is adamant about the idea of having a fan because the noise from the device will prevent him from getting any sleep. Since they lack air conditioning in their home, Alicia decides to purchase a fan. Alicia, therefore, spends her days in open spaces and in cafes with air conditioning just to get away from the unbearable heat. Alicia’s diary describes how she suffers through an intense heat wave. The second part begins with a record of Alicia’s life as expressed in her diary.
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