The characters / Recurring character
Alicia Peterson
Alicia Peterson is recorded in 3 distinct stories.
Reveal identity notes · spoilers
Gwendy's mother recovering from cancer; same mother identified as Alicia in Final Task. Context checked against the supplied narrative; no same-name cross-work identity is inferred without an explicit decision. Gwendy's mother, whose death in 2015 is stated in the narrative. Context checked against the supplied narrative; no same-name cross-work identity is inferred without an explicit decision.
Also recorded as Mrs. Peterson.
Stories and supporting passages
Gwendy's Button Box
Read the passage Spoilers · Story context
Mr. and Mrs. Peterson even break their long abstinence with a bottle of champagne to toast their daughter, who is bound for Columbia grad school, or—perhaps—the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Button Box explicitly identifies Mr. and Mrs. Peterson as Gwendy’s parents throughout her childhood and graduation. Final Task names the same father Alan and mother Alicia; Magic Feather already uses these existing identities for the intervening parental scenes. This is a continuous uniquely identified family, not a surname-only match.
Gwendy's Final Task
Read the passage Spoilers · Story context
On the second, her custodianship was much shorter, but she believed it saved her mother’s life (Alicia Peterson died in 2015, years after cancer should have killed her). The third time was...different. Farris was different.
Gwendy's mother, whose death in 2015 is stated in the narrative.
Gwendy's Magic Feather
Read the passage Spoilers · Story context
Mrs. Peterson, looking better than Gwendy has seen her look in months, complains about still needing to take daily naps and her husband’s constant coddling, but she does so with a grateful smile and an affectionate squeeze of Mr. Peterson’s forearm.
Gwendy's mother recovering from cancer; same mother identified as Alicia in Final Task.