Summary

Part One opens on October 1st, 1962 as Joan Bergstrom writes to Imogen Fortier, the longtime author of a magazine column called "Letter from the Island." Joan praises Imogen's enthusiasm for life and says that Los Angeles has many beautiful sights. She includes a packet of saffron and a recipe for muscles that she learned on a journey through the Far East.

Imogen replies on October 12th, 1962 as she and her husband Francis hid from Typhoon Freda along the Pacific. She says they failed to gather mussels to try out Joan's recipe as she worries that their old cabin will float away in the fierce storm. She compares it to the wind she experienced during the Great Depression when they were not sure when they would get to eat. Imogen is also unable to read the Book of the Month Rabbit, Run, finding...