When Anna learns the news, she vomits she is pregnant with Dexter’s child. all along-Dexter is shot dead in his boathouse by a former subordinate. On the order of his old boss-as well as his father-in-law, who has been in league with Mr. He comes to terms with his feelings about Lydia’s disability, and he experiences intense regret for abandoning his family.īack in New York, Dexter finds himself outplayed and dropped by Mr. When his ship sails near Africa, Eddie has a near-death experience, and he ends up on a lifeboat near Somaliland. In trouble with Dexter’s men-and eager to get away from his family-he took a job as a ship’s third mate in San Francisco. They find Eddie’s pocket watch and presume he has drowned there.īut Eddie is alive. Still plagued by Anna’s wish to find her father, Dexter helps her dive into New York Harbor to find her father’s remains. because his wealthy father-in-law, Arthur Berringer, is unwilling to help him make money legitimately. Dexter tells her that such a quest would be dangerous.ĭexter, meanwhile, tires of his life of crime. Afterward, Anna reveals that her last name is Kerrigan and asks Dexter to help her find her missing father. Voss and gets into Dexter’s car they drive to the boathouse near Manhattan Beach and have sex. When she sees Dexter again, she spurns Mr. High on her newfound confidence, she goes with Mr. Although female divers are unheard of, Anna persists and passes the test. Now alone in New York, Anna pursues her dream of becoming a diver. Lydia initially revives at the sight of the sea, but soon declines and dies.Īgnes, who cannot bear her New York life any longer, returns to her family home in Minnesota. Lydia becomes increasingly unwell, and Anna asks Dexter to drive them to Manhattan Beach. When they are introduced, she changes her last name to “Feeney” so that he will not recognize her. She befriends Nell, who takes her to Moonshine’s nightclub, where she discovers that Dexter is the owner. By age 19, she has left Brooklyn College and started working at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

Anna, already schooled in discretion, knows not to mention the visit to her mother Agnes, who stays at home, caring for her disabled sister, Lydia.Įddie disappears when Anna is 14.

In the 1930s, 12-year-old Anna Kerrigan accompanies her father Eddie on a visit to Dexter Styles, a former bootlegger and current nightclub owner who may be able to find work for Eddie, who lost much of his wealth in the 1929 stock market crash. Exploring 20th-century history through characters’ personal pasts, Manhattan Beach is Egan’s sixth novel and echoes themes from her previous fiction, including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Manhattan beach egan summary