Part I, Chapters 1-3 Summary

Part I of the book is entitled "The North Sea." The opening chapter is called "In the Care of Churchgoers and Old Girls." Jack Burns is four years old as he stands on a sidewalk in Toronto with his mother, watching several uniformed school girls walk to St. Hilda's School. Jack's mother informs him that he will be attending the school himself the following year when the all girls school begins admitting boys.

Before that, Jack's mother intends to take him with her to Northern Europe in search of William Burns, Jack's father who she tells him has abandoned them. Jack's mother, whose name is Alice Stronach, had met William Burns in their native Scotland at the church where he worked as an organist and she sang in the choir. William had left for Canada after Alice...