Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Briony feels like everyone is conspiring to ruin her play and she is relieved when everyone wanders off and leaves her alone in the nursery. Sitting on the floor holding her script, Briony thinks about the effort it will take to groom herself like Lola. She studies her hand, contemplating the mystery of how thinking about moving a finger and moving it are related. Briony often thinks about life's mysteries and she wonders whether others do likewise. If they do, life is unbearably complex and she is irrelevant. If not, life is sinister and lonely. Briony squirms in the oppressive heat and the realization that she should have just written a story for Leon. Stories require no intermediaries and have no pressure of time. Story writing is a magical process that instantly joins author and reader.

Briony goes to a window...