Chapters 1-2 Summary

Ruth is a young woman from a small town and a farm girl, who has just experienced a horrible tragedy. Ruth is writing her story as she recovers from her experience in the hopes that she can learn from it or help someone else learn from it.

In chapter 1, Ruby begins her story by describing the town in which she grew up. Honey Creek is a small farm town in the northernmost part of Illinois. The town is so small that everyone knows everyone's business. Ruth realizes now that people in town must have felt sorry for her and her family. Ruth's father left when she was ten, just drove away and went to Texas to pick grapefruit and never returns. Ruth recalls how her mother often told her her father's leaving was her fault because of the fighting. Ruth also...