Summary

Chapter 1 – The book begins with an omniscient narrator observing an unnamed female character in a cabin. She has carved marks on the walls to indicate the passage of days, and there are many, many marks. We are told about the woman's rustic daily routines, being awakened by her dog, fishing, raising livestock, foraging, and hunting. At night she reads the books that line the walls of the cabin and the “yellowed magazines from 1985” (4). With the exception of the dog, Leo, she is alone. Suddenly she hears a sound. With her gun out of reach, she must make do with the knife she has used to carve the marks. She pulls the dog upstairs to a bedroom and under the bed with her. She is concerned about a specific potential intruder, the narrator cryptically notes, “It was him, she was sure of it” (6).

Chapter...