The Echo of Old Books: A Novel

Marian “Belle” Manning is one of the protagonists of the book. She is the daughter of a wealthy American businessman in the early 20th century, and in her youth, she moved within the New York elite circles. Her romance with Hemi and the scandal about her father that it helps uncover both push her into moving to California. She is eventually cut off from her family when she adopts two children and converts to Judaism.

Despite being the daughter of a wealthy man, Marian doesn’t exhibit the same elitist airs as the rest of her family. She chafes at a life of marriage and children that leaves her with no agency or meaningful contribution to society. She is a romantic and wants to marry for love. She is not deterred by Hemi’s profession or social status and gives in to the mutual attraction that is present from their very first meeting. Despite Hemi’s view of her as the “belle” of the ball, Marian is willing to give up her life of privilege and elope with him for love. Even after she feels completely betrayed by him, Marian is unable to love anyone like she loved Hemi, and thus remains unmarried for most of her life.

Even with these romantic leanings, Marian is not an unrealistic character, as she still displays the social conditioning that she grew up with. Because she is afraid of her father, it takes Marian some time and encouragement to finally break off the engagement with Teddy, which her father arranged. When she learns the truth about Helene from Hemi, she responds with a sense of betrayal and incredulity, as well as defensiveness about her father’s role in Helene’s death. Initially, Marian dismisses the latter as untrue and worries about how that information will affect her family.

It takes an extraordinary set of circumstances for Marian to finally break away from her family: the conviction that Hemi has left her for good; the article, which destroys Martin’s power and social standing; and the fact that she is pregnant and has no choice but to leave town, if she is not to be completely ostracized. However, Marian displays great resilience and strength of character in the face of heartbreak, finding a way to start over and build a family for herself in California. She also leads a full and meaningful life, contributing to society by working with war orphans and displaced children.

Marian’s life and character arc explore the theme of Heartbreak, Tragedy, and Starting Afresh. In fact, she starts “afresh” twice: once in the years spent after she and Hemi part, and once more when they reunite. Her character eventually receives the happy ending that she has been looking for all her life.

Hugh “Hemi” Garret is another one of the book’s protagonists. He is an Englishman who comes over to the United States during WWII on assignment to write an expose on Marian’s father, Martin Manning. A son of a newspaperman himself, Hugh dreams of finding success in writing. Although he falls in love with Marian and doesn’t end up publishing the piece, he does find success as a writer, first as a war correspondent, and then as a novelist.

Hugh has a strong sense of social justice, fueled by the upbringing and the context in which he was born and raised. Hailing from a middle-class family in England, he is deeply affected by the war. Thus, despite the strong feelings he has for Marian, Hugh attempts to separate his work from his personal life while he works on the article: He believes it is important to expose and dismantle the dangers of antisemitic attitudes propounded by Martin and his social circle. This same sense of justice lends Hugh integrity, and he eventually refuses to write the article not just because of love for Belle, but because of the jarring developments the story takes. He doesn’t feel right about dredging up Helene’s past and mental health struggles simply to take down Martin.

Hugh’s relationship with Marian experiences some tensions because of his keen awareness of social inequalities, as well as the lack of awareness Marian displays about some of the privileges she has had. This leaves him distrustful of her commitment to him, as he does not believe she can easily leave behind her comfortable life for the sake of love, which leads to years of misunderstanding. Hugh does not pause to question the note Dickey delivers to him and leaves town without speaking to Marian; he makes no move to contact her for years and carries a bitter and resentful tone. Even when they do meet, it takes an actual confrontation with Corinne for Hugh to finally believe Marian’s claim that she had asked him to wait, all those years ago.

Despite his deep love for Marian, his bitterness largely stems from regret about the unfinished business between them. Thus, when all misunderstandings are finally resolved, Hugh eventually chooses to let the past go and start afresh.