Summary

Part I opens with the narrator, law professor Tom Layward, revealing in the first person narration that when his son was 12 years old, his wife Amy had an affair with a man named Zach Zirksy whom she met at her synagogue. Tom grew up Catholic but religion was never a big part of his life. Amy confessed the affair but said it had ended and she did not want to divorce. Tom decided to stay until their youngest child, Miri, went to college. The narration jumps forward 12 years to the summer before Miri is due to leave for college.

Tom, Amy, and Miri visited Amy’s family’s holiday home in Cape Cod. In the narration, Tom recalls how he and Amy first met, when they were at grad school in Boston. Amy was dating Tom’s friend Ethan and they met at...