Summary

The novel, told in the third-person, begins with an exchange of e-mails between Howard Belsey and his son, Jerome Belsey. Jerome begins with a long and detailed letter to his father about how much he is enjoying his time abroad in England, and how much he is enjoying staying with the Kipps family, particularly the patriarch of the family, Monty Kipps. Jerome gushes about the Kipps family home and the Kipps children, Michael and Victoria. In Jerome’s second e-mail, he acknowledges his father’s failure to respond in-depth, but still goes on just as excitedly about the Kipps family. In Jerome’s third e-mail, he proclaims that he and Victoria Kipps are in love after just a week and will be married.

Chapter 2 begins with a hectic morning at the Belsey family home. Howard, who is English, and his...