Summary

Chapter 1 begins by looking at the past, in medias res, without much context, and with an omniscient point of view of suburban American life. The narrator discloses that the Richardson family home was burned down on a Saturday afternoon in May. “Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer,” and Isabelle Richardson was viewed as the primary suspect because she was nowhere to be found and “Izzy” had a bad reputation (1). All spring, the neighborhood gossip revolved around Mirabelle McCullough, who was also May Ling Chow “depending which side you were on,” but now, there was something “new and sensational” to gossip about (1).

The neighbors “clustered as close” to the action on Parkland Drive as they could while Mrs. Richardson watched the “hopeless” firemen fight the flames that were enveloping her home (2). She reminisced about what she had seen the night before...