Chapter 1 Summary

As the naked, precocious five-year-old leaves her hut in the morning to play, she has no idea that this day will be any different from any other. She swims in the river, enjoying the cool water, and has just gotten out to dry herself in the sunshine, when the earth begins to tremble. She is confused and tries uncertainly to make her way back to her hut. The trembling of the earth becomes more forceful, and a huge pine tree crashes down before her. A gaping crack appears in the earth, and before the frightened young girl can reach her hut, it is swallowed up into the crack, taking everything she has known or loved during her first five years of life.

The girl screams repeatedly, "Mother!" but the shaking has become so violent that she is unable to walk; she is repeatedly...