East of Eden - post VII

The parts of the book describing the departure of Samuel Hamilton are very moving and he departs having shaken Adam out of his reverie once more and moved the story on regarding Cathy

Bullet points between pages 346 – 401

* The Hamilton’s all get together for Thanksgiving, including their daughter Olive who happens to be married to Ernest Steinbeck the narrator’s father, and they decide that Samuel needs to be taken away from the farm

* Samuel understands all too well what is happening and one by one visits his friends to bid them farewell saving Adam for last and he finds the 11 year old twins growing but Adam still stuck in the past so he tells him about Cathy running a whorehouse

* Samuel dies and his funeral is held in the town of Salinas and Adam, fuelled by drink, goes and has it out with Cathy and as her anger mounts he emerges from a dream and realises that he is free of her and heads back to his land happier than he has been for years

Is that the end of Cathy? Will her anger follow him? What next for the Hamilton’s after Samuel’s death? All the questions will be answered in the next few days as I get to the end of this engaging book…