Summary

In Chapter 1, the novel opens in Cornwall, where Elizabeth “Betty” Flanders is on vacation with her three sons following the death of her husband. She sits at a desk in the boarding house and writes a letter to her friend Captain Barfoot, who is back in Betty’s hometown of Scarborough. Her sons play about outside. Her elder son, Archer, calls out for her middle son, Jacob. Betty goes outside to find her boys playing along the beach. Jacob finds a large crab in the sand, and then he finds a sheep’s skull. His mother tells him to put it down, but he refuses. Betty brings her boys inside and puts them to bed. Betty then says good night to Rebecca, the nanny, and Jacob sleeps in his bed with the sheep’s skull lying at this feet. Rain gently patters on...