Summary

In the “Introduction,” the narrator explained the circumstances of Emma Starling’s birth, and her special healing power that her father nicknamed “The Charm” (4). She left her hometown of Everton, New Hampshire, and attended college in California, before being accepted into a medical school. Her mother, Ingrid, convinced her to return home to visit her dying father, Clive Starling.

In Chapter 1, Emma Starling returned to Everton, and her every move was watched by the dead souls in the cemetery who narrate the novel. “She knew it was time to come home,” but did not want to be there (10). Emma picked up a dog on the side of the road and named him Moses. Everton was struggling with an opioid epidemic. The streets were littered with missing person posters for Crystal Nash, Emma’s childhood best friend.

In Chapter 2, Emma arrived home and remembered...