Within Arm's Reach

Catharine McLaughlin is one of the main protagonists of the novel. She is the 79-year-old matriarch of the McLaughlin family, the wife of Patrick McLaughlin, the mother of Kelly, Pat, Meggy, Johnny, Theresa, and Ryan, the mother-in-law of Louis Leary, and the grandmother of Gracie and Lila. She is a stoic and orderly woman who has tried to instill strength and perseverance in her children and does not show her emotions or internal world to anyone. She also does not like painkillers, not even allowing them to be used when she goes to the dentist.

Catharine is a devout Catholic, who attends Mass every Sunday and has raised her children to go to confession weekly and not play or read any other books except the Bible on Sundays. Though she is against premarital sex, Catharine does not want any more distance between her living family and wants to see her great-grandchild before she dies. She, thus, supports Gracie financially and excitedly anticipates the birth of her great-grandchild. Catharine attempts to unite the family through the Easter party and having Lila move in with Gracie, but this does not quite work. She also struggles to get her family to reconnect because her visions distract her. At Gracie’s baby shower, Catharine’s vision of her mother criticizes her for focusing on her losses at the detriment of her living family and for not being more emotionally open toward her children. It is when Catharine gives Gracie her baby shower that the family comes together, which makes Catharine happy.

In her later years, Catharine has many regrets. She regrets not getting Ryan more psychiatric help when he was younger, allowing his mental health issues to go undertreated or untreated. She also wishes that she had stood up for Pat and protected him when Patrick abused him, rather than excusing Patrick’s abuse as a psychological response he could not help. She hosts the Easter party to bring all the McLaughlins together and then encourages her family to find ways to come together. She has also suppressed much of her grief over her oldest daughter and her twins, who all died as small children. They still haunt her, and when Gracie starts sobbing after receiving the baby blanket from her, Catharine finds Gracie’s sobbing cathartic. It is in that moment and when Gracie goes into labor, that Catharine starts to find herself healing and able to fully enjoy the present.

Catharine also can see visions and apparitions of others, including the Ballen children and her deceased family members. She learns that Patrick had this ability and gave it to her when he died. Her descendants have also inherited this ability or other special traits. Gracie can see a vision of her unborn daughter, and Kelly and Lila are gifted with extraordinary memories that defy the scientific understanding of memories.

Lila Leary is one of the protagonists of the novel. She is the youngest daughter of Louis and Kelly Leary, one of the McLaughlin grandchildren, and Gracie’s younger sister. Lila is a 27-year-old medical student whose intellectualism and photographic memory have helped her reach the top of her class. However, entering the hospital stage of medical school has proved a challenge for Lila, who struggles with social interactions, dislikes small talk, and quickly loses patience with her patients and their families. Unlike her grandmother, father, and some of her other family members, who are committed Catholics, Lila is an atheist, not believing in God or destiny. After realizing that she wants a job and life that gives her excitement, she starts to wonder if Weber’s assertion that they were meant to meet and get together was right. She is motivated to attempt to reconcile with Weber, which has still not been completed at the end of the novel. However, during the baby shower, Lila has hope that the experience will bring them together.

Though she enjoys the knowledge aspect of medicine, medicine is not her passion. She chose medicine as a suggestion from Kelly, with approval from Catharine, who originally wanted her to be a lawyer like Patrick. After the Easter party and her fling with Weber James, however, Lila realizes that she does not enjoy medicine enough for it to be a passion. Though she tries to fight her attraction to Weber, when she sees him covered in soot after putting out the apartment fire and getting everybody out of the building, she sees his bravery and passion. She realizes that she wants her occupation to give her the joy and excitement that Weber’s profession does. Lila, thus, drops out of medical school and quickly tries to find an occupation that she wants to do and that will make her money.

Lila also somewhat acts as a foil for Gracie. Unlike Gracie, Lila is not social and has limited sexual experience, putting her time into her studies. She was highly competitive with Gracie when they were children, with the sisters constantly trying to upstage each other. Throughout the novel, their lives take differing directions.

At the beginning of the novel, Lila is in her third year of medical school and on her way to becoming a doctor, though she does not enjoy handling patients while Gracie is facing single motherhood and figuring out how her family will react. By the end of the novel, Gracie is marrying Grayson and about to have a baby with her family now giving support, while Lila is a medical school dropout who must quickly figure out another profession to support her. Lila notes this and admits to feeling jealous of Gracie. However, Lila steadily grows supportive of her sister, choosing to be her birthing coach. The events of the novel bring the sisters together, and Lila shows that she loves and supports her sister, even though they are such different people.

Louis Leary is one of the protagonists of the novel. He is the father of Gracie and Lila Leary, the husband of Kelly McLaughlin Leary, and the son-in-law of Catharine McLaughlin. Louis is the head of a construction company, of which Eddie was part. He also owns real estate and has bought most of the land in Ramsey, New Jersey. Louis is a loving father but struggles to be communicative with his family, struggling to open up to Kelly about his grief over Eddie’s death and isolating himself instead. He also admits that he did not assert himself as a father as much as he should have. He is troubled by his decision not to stop Gracie and the boy she was seeing when he caught them having sex together in his and Kelly’s house when she was 15. He later thinks about how he should have been more communicative, making sure the family went to Mass every Sunday and kicking out the boy who was with Gracie that day.

Though he has trouble communicating his feelings to his family, he loves his family and is loyal to them. Though he does not like Ryan because of his delusions and his often cruel statements, Louis acts friendly toward him and helps him when he needs to, promising to let him stay in his apartment, taking him to the hospital to see Catharine before her surgery, and saving him when his apartment catches fire.

Louis suffers guilt and trauma over Eddie’s death and believes he needs to help care for his widow and children because he believes that is what Eddie would want. This leads to him going to Eddie’s house and following his widow Noreen Ballen there once. Louis begins making repairs to the house and befriends her children. However, when Noreen confronts him and calmly tells him she does not need his help and that he has no responsibility for Eddie’s death, he starts to let go of his guilt and agrees not to go to her house or talk to her children when she is not there anymore.

Kelly McLaughlin Leary is one of the protagonists. She is the oldest living child of Patrick and Catharine McLaughlin, the older sister of Pat, Meggy, Johnny, Theresa, and Ryan, the wife of Louis Leary, and the mother of Gracie and Lila Leary. She is 56 years old and the boss of her own company. As the oldest, Kelly has taken on the responsibility of helping and managing her many siblings since she was young. She also grew up focused on being good, to the point where she had little to confess during semi-weekly confession growing up and would use it to tell on her siblings for their misbehavior. With Catharine being elderly, Kelly is now responsible for much of Catharine’s well-being and care. Though she is loyal and devoted to her family, she has grown resentful of carrying most of the family’s weight for so many years.

She is also frustrated at Louis’s inability to talk to her and has been distant from him for a while. Six months before Part 1 of the novel, Kelly started renting out a motel room from a friend to think about her life and her memories, and to allow herself to be who she is without trying to please anyone. She also consults Mayor Vince Carrelli to help Louis open up about Eddie, but when that fails, she continues to think about Vince. After Vince reveals he has fallen in love with Kelly, she starts an affair with him and they start going to her motel room to talk, kiss, and have sex. She considers leaving Louis for Vince and tries to justify it to herself by saying it feels right and her guilt is just Catholic programming. However, when she learns Louis saved Ryan and realizes he has been helping her family more than she has lately, she ends the affair. Kelly is also supportive of Gracie keeping her child, Kelly’s grandchild, especially when she learns that Meggy tried to convince Gracie to give the child to Johnny and Angel. Kelly throws the baby shower for Gracie, which ends up uniting the family in the end and leading to her telling Gracie she ended the affair.