Jennifer Egan develops a strong relationship with Lucy. One day she was doing research at the Brooklyn Historical Society on the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II and she met a lady name Lucy. Lucy worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a mechanic in the ship fitting shop. Jennifer decided to do research on Lucy since she worked at the place she is researching about. Lucy married a man name Alfred Kolkin and they both worked in the Navy Yard but at different locations. They would write letters everyday to each other and the Brooklyn Historical Society had copies of it .So Egan requested to get them and she got them and she began reading them. That’s how her relationship started with Lucy. Reading her letters made Egan understand Lucy better and how much she and Alfred loved each other. It also depicts how the navy yard was during World War II and what kind of people worked there. At the time racial discrimination was also going on Lucy would use the term “Negro” to refer to African Americans. As reading through her letters Egan learns that Lucy dies and then Egan looks up information on Lucy’s obituary. At the end she starts reading  Alfred’s letter to Lucy and he had a lot of plans for Lucy when they would see each other and was full of excitement and joy.