It is shown late in the novel that Lisa Brooke had in fact married an Irishman, Matthew O'Brien, who has been committed to an asylum most of his life under the delusion that he is God.

Since that renders Leet's marriage to Brooke null and void, on O'Brien's death in the asylum the estate passes to Mrs Pettigrew.

Many of the interrelated actions of the group are chronicled by the retired sociologist Alec Warner, who has been in the past romantically involved with Jean Taylor and Lettie Colston.

Warner undertakes a massive ten-year study on gerontology, and takes copious notes on all the events he observes, including the "threatening" telephone message, but he loses them all in a fire at his flat and "feels dead" from regret over their loss.

Alec regularly visits Jean Taylor, whose presence in a nursing home with numerous "Grannies" and other geriatric cases provides a sane perspective on ageing in an institution.