An old woman's touch
Veronica thought her grandma to be a fantastic woman and when she felt the touch of her hand on her cheek she felt the nearness of death. She was comforted by it and thinks there is nothing like an old woman's touch, at the same time loving, but also horrible.
Lamb Nugent
The way Veronica describes Lamb Nugent at the beginning as a man that Ada was supposed to end up with, his being madly in love with her, it doesn't predict the horrifying revelation later in the novel. That revelation is that Nugent abused his power of a landlord over Ada, being always there in her home, not allowing her privacy and also the fact that he was a pedophile who sexually abused Ada's children and later her grandchildren.
Near assault experience
Veronica recalls an experience where she was chased by a man who wanted to sexually assault her. She remembers escaping into the church and praying that he doesn't come in. To her relief he doesn't, he wasn't at the church door when she turned around, but the problem now was that she saw him everywhere she went, the experience changing her view and her experience while being out in the streets alone.
Irony of love
Veronica has a complicated marriage where she feels scrutinized and less important than her self-important husband. She admits that she does love him, but that doesn't mean she likes him, just like her grandmother who loved Nugent but disliked him, and she married Charles whom she liked. Loving someone and liking someone isn't interchangeable, one doesn't include the other. The Hegarty family love each other like family, love the feeling of belonging, but that doesn't stop them from disliking each other.
