"This symbol is thousands of years old. It will long outlive a party of fascists. I felt no need to pander to them by not using a good design when I saw it. If I did that, they would have won, wouldn't they? Instead I am reclaiming it for its true meaning. It is not the Nazi Party that gets to decide for me what interpretation to place on the fylfot."
The fylfot, Chevalier informs us, is a 'symbol of light and life and good fortune' in this novel which explores how to hide in plain sight, discover meaning in the seemingly ordinary, and pull oneself together. The protagonist, a woman in her late 30s who's lost both a brother and a fiancé in the Great War, ultimately finds herself glad to be alive and learns how to forge her own path, raised eyebrows notwithstanding, sometimes finding support in the most unexpected of places.