Summary

Spufford begins the novel with a thirrd-person narrator, reflecting philosophically in the present tense about time and Vern’s, Jo’s, Alec’s, Val’s, and Ben’s place in it. The narrator appears omniscient to events, commenting on the inevitable rocket burst, but is actively curious about meaning, asking the reader, “Do we move in time, or does it move us?” (4). The narrator briefly details the actual burst and murder of the children, but the tone remains detached from the actuality of the event; the rocket burst seems as much an unwitting victim of time as the children: “That’s time for you. It breaks things up. It scatters them” (8). The section, “t +0: 1944,” ends with the narrator prompting the reader to imagine a reality without the rocket burst, in which the children could live their full lives.

The next section, “t + 5: 1949,” depicts...