Leaving the World

Every moment of human existence is governed by uncertainty. Jane Howard learned this already at thirteen, when she told her constantly quarreling parents that she would never get married or have children. The next day, her father left the family, forcing Jane to walk through life with an immense burden of guilt. Uncertainty will interfere in Jane’s life again and again: when she applies to Harvard for graduate school and unexpectedly falls in love with her research supervisor; when she decides to help her father and pays for it with her career in finance; when she meets a person with whom she wants to break the childhood promise—and as a result, loses everything.

Despite the blows of fate, Jane repeatedly found the strength to rise again. But where is that limit, after which it’s no longer worth trying to take life into your own hands and better to accept the inevitable and leave this world?