I think you're right that Weer has not developed many good relationships in his life, but I think what he's struggling with is that after the Bobby Black incident, he's a pariah in Cassionsville.

Isn't it odd that Weer never mentions anyone being punished for Olivia's death? I wonder if the event was a hit-and-run, and the driver was never identified. It's more tantalizing to imagine that Weer knows but won't say, and to wonder why but, at least within the text, there's not much to go on. At the time of Olivia's death, Peacock did have a car, but so did lots of other people, including Macafee, Smart, and Weer himself. You could argue that each of them had motive. It looks like the source of the theory that Peacock killed Olivia is an article by Damien Broderick in The New York Review of Science Fiction. I haven't read it but am looking for a copy. At least one person who HAS read it says that it's only speculation.

Thank you! I'm glad you find it interesting. Once I started looking for evidence of fairies and so on in Peace, I started seeing things scattered throughout. For example Mab, Den's maternal grandfather's housekeeper, is named after the "fairies' midwife" in "Romeo and Juliet". There's also Den's conflation of the landscape in the painting of his uncle Joe with the fairy lands of Andrew Lang. Wolfe implies that this association came after the accident with Bobby because Den doesn't receive the Green Fairy Book until he is six. Given that, as it spread across Europe, Christianity worked to replace the beliefs that came before it, it's tempting to think that Den is, in fighting Bobby, defending fairy against Christianity. It seems unlikely though, that he had this in mind at the time. Still, there's a difference between knowing a thing consciously and being under it's influence. I think Wolfe is pointing at that difference here, and trying to inform us about how to read the rest of the book. So what really happened in the attic? Den thinks the house knows, but won't tell him. Poor Den.

@G.L. McDorman But it's not Tennessee. The Civil War statue in the town square is of a Union soldier.

@Daniel Falch It sure is. What happened to that skull later on? Den doesn't know (I'd guess) because he's never realized what actually happened. The pattern of stories-never-completed, and events that Den misunderstands, recurs throughout Peace.

I think Peacock went back to take away some of the bones they found. He hid them in Olivia's basket, necessitating her leaving the tray behind. She didn't want Den to know so she made up a story, and got the details wrong. Basically they've disturbed a burial site and it's a bit of a horror trope that this would likely stir up some angry spirits. In relation to the Bell Witch (mentioned later in Peace), there is a Bell Witch Cave which also contains a native American burial site. I don't think these two are meant to be the same cave, but if you know that legend, this part of the story has a slightly different feel.

I'll add that the legend of the Bell Witch is mentioned a few times. The events which gave birth to the legend occurred in Tennessee, but were pretty widely known even in the 1800s.

I think this affects the "river flowing the wrong way" discussion as well. While I like the idea of Weer's America not being the "real" one, I think it's possible that Cassionsville is east of the Mississippi. I've generally leaned toward Tennessee, but I'm not sure a definite conclusion can be reached.

Yes, your podcast is a real treasure. I have started at the beginning and am working my way forward trying to better understand Wolfe's development. I am making an exception for the Peace episodes because it is one of my favorite books. I don't want to give anything away and I hope my Olivia comment didn't do that - it seemed like more of an aside. Thank you for taking the time to go through Wolfe's work with such care. It's really valuable.