The Stone Diaries

In 1947, Barker and Daisy have been married 11 years and have three children: Alice, 9; Warren, 7; and Joan, 5. At 65, Barker is planning to retire but is frightened about the idleness that comes with it. The narrative briefly switches to the point of view of each child. When Daisy talks to Alice about sex, Alice finds it dirty and "awful." Warren, whose name is a play on “war,” asks questions about his birth because he likes hearing how he was born "in the early days of the war" (169). He worries about his parents having another baby, but Daisy reassures him that they are "too old" to do so. Young Joan is still trying to understand her place in the world, aware that she "can fill up an empty moment should one occur" (172).

The children recall when Cousin Beverly came to visit; she is Barker's niece, daughter of his brother Andrew. She was a nurse in the war and tells them war stories, which Daisy tries to prevent her from doing because they are graphic. Alice notes, "Cousin Beverly was someone in possession of terrible stories, but still she managed to walk around in the world and be cheerful and smart" (177). Later Daisy finds a letter from Beverly’s mother, Fan, saying how offended she is that Beverly was apparently unwelcomed and rushed away.

Cuyler Goodwill is now 70 and has retired to the Indiana countryside with Maria. Just as he obsessively built the stone tower on Mercy's grave, he is now obsessed with building a stone pyramid in their backyard with a time capsule buried under it. He asks his three grandchildren for items to put in the time capsule. Alice sends a cut-out newspaper headline, Warren sends a pressed maple leaf, and Joan sends a postage stamp. Cuyler includes Mercy's wedding ring, which he retrieved from her dead body; he meant to give it to Daisy but found it "less troubling" to simply bury it in the time capsule. 

In August of that year, Fraidy comes to visit Daisy. Fraidy is unmarried and is torn between feeling jealous of how put-together Daisy's life seems and feeling annoyed at how much Daisy has changed to fit society's gender expectations. Daisy spends her time reading articles from Good Housekeeping and The Canadian Home Companion, which includes advice for "ways a woman can please her husband in bed" (185). Daisy and Barker's sex life depends on his mood; she is prepared for sex before and after he returns from a business trip. She also notes that lately Barker has been depressed because of his impending retirement and his distant relationship with his father. Daisy sees Magnus Flett as a "tragic figure" because she has never met him but has heard his story. 

Barker has recently been working on dedicating a new horticultural center to his late mother, Clarentine; this is how he strengthens their relationship even after death. The benefactor who funds this center is Valdi Goodmansen, the cyclist who killed Clarentine. He has become a millionaire and is driven by guilt to fund the center in her memory.

Daisy herself feels more connected to her Aunt Clarentine, who cared for her for 11 years, than to her mother Mercy, whom she never met. She laments how the connection to her mother is "almost arbitrary, for what does Mrs. Flett possess of her mother beyond a blurred wedding photograph and a small foreign coin, too worn to decipher," a coin that was placed on her forehead at birth by the "old Jew" Abram Gozhde Skutari (189). The chapter ends with a description of Daisy's home and garden, which she takes pride in and considers "her child." 

Chapter 6 is a series of letters spanning from 1955 to 1964. In 1955, both Barker and Cuyler die. Cuyler's lawyers try settling his will, but they cannot because Maria has disappeared. In his retirement, Barker was writing for the Recorder, a garden magazine, under the pseudonym “Mr. Green Thumb.” Soon, Daisy begins writing for the magazine as well, eventually taking over Barker's botany column and becoming “Mrs. Green Thumb.” She receives and replies to many fan letters praising her work. Alice at first resents her mother for "replacing" her father so soon after his death, but she later accepts her mother's new job.

Beverly marries, leaves her husband, becomes pregnant by another man, and eventually asks Daisy if she can move in until she can put the baby up for adoption. After having the baby, however, she decides to keep her and names her Victoria. Alice is now studying Russian literature at Smith College in Massachusetts. In 1960, she marries Ben Downing and moves to England; she gives birth to Ben, Jr. in 1962 and Judy in 1964. Warren starts college in 1957 in Hanover. Fraidy and Daisy also plan a trip to Chicago, which Beans joins later because it is revealed her husband was unfaithful and she wishes to get away. After a series of lovers, Fraidy marries a man named Mel in 1958. 

Daisy corresponds with the Recorder's editor, Jay Dudley, who gradually closes his letters more and more intimately, eventually evolving to "Affectionately, J," implying a closer relationship between the two. Their dating is also hinted at later when, in a letter from 1962, Fraidy marvels at how she and Daisy both have "beaux." However, their relationship ends when, in 1964, Daisy is fired and replaced by James "Pinky" Fulham. He decides to take over her botany column after guest writing for Daisy several times and finding that he enjoys the topic; Jay allows this, claiming Pinky has precedence over Daisy.