Summary

In Chapter 1, “You Are Here, January 1991,” a girl, who is later identified as Jessica, sneaks out of the house at night wearing her new coat. She is by herself and described as tall. The author indicates that there will be a time when Jessica sneaks out and does not return. For now, she is exploring her new town Sycamore, remembering the “Boy” (3) she broke up with six months earlier. She thinks about the drive to Sycamore and tensions with her mother in the car. Her mother tried to explain that they were moving because she could no longer afford their house after the divorce. A sound in the bushes distracts her from her memory. Jessica wonders what types of wildlife is in the area. Jessica returns home, checks on her mother, and finds her mother Maud crying in her sleep.

In Chapter 2, "In...