Summary

2, continued

(untitled chapter) Christine Keeler is a young girl in the late 1940s/early 1950s when she and some local friends discover a bomb in the river and bring it home. It sends the neighborhood into a panic and the RAF responds. Christine recalls a time when she brought home a pet fieldmouse that her father killed by stepping on.

(untitled chapter) The novel returns to the present. Elisabeth goes to visit Daniel, who is sleeping. He appears today like a Roman senator. The care assistant tells Elisabeth they were all amazed to learn that Daniel voluntarily went into the internment camp with his German father during the war. Elisabeth then begins reading aloud to Daniel.

(untitled chapter) The novel returns to the past. Elisabeth is eight. She asks about Daniel’s music writing and if he can sing. Daniel does a magic trick...