Chapter 1 Summary

This novel is the third in a series of five books that tell the multi-generational story of the Murry family. In this book, Charles Wallace Murry is sent into the past in a desperate attempt to avert a potential present-day nuclear war. As the narrative describes his experiences slipping in and out of several time frames, it explores themes relating to the interconnectedness of past and present, the tension between will and trust, and the nature of connection with God.

On a stormy Thanksgiving night, the Murry family gathers for its traditional holiday meal. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Mrs. Murry tends to the turkey, while physicist Mr. Murry helps the unusually silent Charles Wallace construct a model of a scientific phenomenon called a tesseract. Twins Sandy (an aspiring lawyer) and Dennys (an aspiring doctor) set the table, bantering with Mrs. Murry. Watching and reflecting...