Summary

In Part 1, Chapter 1, it is June and July, 1976. On Friday afternoon, Edelman’s Bakery, located in Washington Heights, is busy. Isaac Shulman, a member of the Jewish Kirshner community, picks up six challahs, then carpools home to Kaaterskill Falls with friend Andras Melish. Isaac works for the Department of Public Works while Andras has his own import business. Both businesses are in the city. Isaac is young and faithful, while Andras is twenty years older and an immigrant from Budapest. Kaaterskill is a small town in the forested mountains. The homes and businesses are mostly made of wood, and most buildings have porches. The firehouse is one of the few buildings made of brick, as the old firehouse burned down some years before.

It is Friday. Much of the town has turned out to watch the installation of Will Curtis’s new...