Summary

Chapter 1 opens in the year 2003. It has been almost two years since the 9/11 attacks, the city of New York has commissioned a panel of artists and historians to choose a design for a memorial built where the World Trade Center once stood. One member of the committee is Claire Burwell, a wealthy woman of about 40 years old whose husband Cal died in the attack. Claire is the only person on the panel who lost a loved one in the attack. The panel is trying to decide between anonymous submissions for the design, and with Claire’s urging, they eventually decide on a specific garden-based design.

In Chapter 2, the panel then opens a prepared envelope detailing the identity of the person who designed the chosen submission. The panel is shocked to discover that the designer is Mohammad Khan, an American architect who is also a...