Part 1, Encounter: Chapters 1-2 Summary

Nella Larsen in the daughter of a West Indian man and a Dutch mother. Somewhat of an outcast in her own family due to the color of her skin, Nella spends the majority of her childhood in a boarding school. Nella Larsen will later become one of the shining stars of the Harlem Renaissance.

In chapter 1, Irene Redfield reads a letter that arrives in the morning mail from a childhood friend, Clare Kendry. Irene thinks about Clare, recalling the day Clare's father dies and how she stares down at him in silence before bursting into tears. Clare then disappears from the Chicago neighborhood where they all grow up, visiting only a few times before disappearing for good.

In chapter 2, Irene recalls a trip to Chicago two years previously. Irene is shopping, looking for specific gifts for her...