Summary

Part One: “Arrivals”

In Chapter 1: “Storyteller at the Crossroads,” it is March in Cellar Hollow, England, but it feels like autumn. Molly and her brother Kip, both Irish redheads, are in Cellar Hollow to meet the Windsors at the Windsor estate. Everyone they ask for directions along the way tell them they are going to their deaths, and mention the “sourwoods.” They come upon a woman named Hester Kettle, who reveals herself to be a storyteller, and who correctly wonders why the two parentless children are traveling on a stolen fish cart. Kip denies the cart is stolen. The two siblings ask about the Windsors. Hester explains it surprised everyone in the area when Master Windsor and his family moved back to the area the previous autumn. Molly does not know why returning to the place where one grew up is so strange. She...