(spoiler) Significance of cookbook/diary location

Spoiler alert - I have a question related to a key aspect of the plot.

The movie never covers what might be the implications of the cookbook/diary being found on the floor behind the sink, years after being put into the drawer by the mother (grandmother). Presumably when she put it in there and slammed the drawer shut, it fell out. Presumably she was then unable to find it again. But we don't know if/when she ever tried to find it again (unless I missed something - I think the last we see is her husband leaning against the drawer and she's pretty much stuck). This feels to me like a big open question and is left to the viewer's imagination regarding how this event might have contributed to what later happend (all of which was essentially speculation years after the fact in any case).

But I'm inclined to think that the writers/director want us to consider the possibility that the book/money became lost at a key moment and that this contributed to all the bad things that then occurred. Just sort of a "really bad luck" moment on top of a very bad situation, that might have triggered the outcomes.

Anyone else have any of these same thoughts? Maybe I'm way off base...