Summary

In Chapter 1, "Of All That Was Found and All That Was Lost," there is a young boy named David. His mother was very sick and the opening line makes it clear that she dies. David loves both his parents but has a special connection with his mother. When she falls ill, he prays and establishes a series of routines in the hope that something he does will save her. He spends his afternoons by her bed, listening to her labored breaths. Sometimes David has a book with him and on good days, his mother asks him to read to her. They had often read together before the illness, each involved in their separate books but happy to be together. Their habit of reading together makes David very aware of books and he loves to watch as the stories come alive for him.

One...