Domesday Book

The narrative traces the birth and tragic death of Elenor Murray and the ripple effects across a Midwestern community as revealed in a coroner's inquest. After briefly sketching her conception and childhood, it assembles testimonies, letters, essays, and recollections from neighbors, relatives, professionals, and strangers that reconstruct her life and expose private secrets, social tensions, ambitions, and hypocrisies. The coroner’s probing expands into a broader survey of small-town character, class, gender, and moral consequence, while alternating lyrical monologue and dramatic vignette to show how a single life shapes and is shaped by many others, ending with jury deliberation and a verdict.