Martina is Howard Mason’s “other woman,” a poet. Howard left Gabrielle and the children in order to move in with her. Martina shows kindness to Joanna after the deaths of the rest of the Mason family, but she carries a Swedish “gloom in her blood” and commits suicide when Joanna is nine. She published one volume of poetry, Blood Sacrifice, which Joanna later understands was written about her family.
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Martina Character Timeline in When Will There Be Good News?
The timeline below shows where the character Martina appears in When Will There Be Good News?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Harvest
...After their first winter in the country, Howard moves back to London and lives with Martina, his “other woman,” a poet. Gabrielle still doesn’t paint.
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Grave Danger
...up in a strange bed and thinking that everyone in the world had died. Then Martina came into the room and told her that it had snowed. She coaxes Joanna to...
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Martina was half Swedish, and she “carried a northern gloom in her blood.” She longed for...
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...sentenced to life in prison. He said he “didn’t know ‘what had come over him.’” Martina had called him “the bad man” and would comfort Joanna whenever she had one of...
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Abide with Me
Joanna was nine years old when Martina died. She came home from school as Martina’s body was being carried out on a...
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