Summary

The Prologue is set in 1926, Bronx, New York. Helen Joy Davidman is 11. Her father had slapped her that day for a "B" on her report card, saying “There is no place for slipshod work in this family” (2). That night, as usual, Joy and her seven-year-old brother Howie slip away from home and through a hole in the fence of the Bronx Zoo. She loved the Barbary lions. Each time she saw them, she apologized, saying “We were meant to be free” (3).

Part I is titled America and opens with a quote by Aslan from C.S. Lewis's novel The Silver Chair. Chapter 1 opens with a quote from one of Joy Davidman's sonnets and shifts in time to 1946 in Ossining, New York. Joy is married to Bill Gresham. Bill calls home, again struggling with his emotions and alcoholism. He tells Joy he might...