Chapters 1-2 Summary

Chapter 1 opens with Kathy H., the narrator, introducing herself to the reader. She is 31 years old and has been a "carer" for nearly 12 years, caring for patients called "donors." Kathy travels by car from place to place, wherever her donors are staying. She indicates that she is good at what she does and has been allowed some privileges in choosing which donors she cares for. It is because of this privilege, she says, that she had been able to reconnect with two old friends named Ruth and Tommy when they became donors.

Ruth and Tommy are friends from her days at a place called Hailsham, a kind of boarding school. In a recollection, Kathy describes an episode from those days. A group of girls, including Ruth and Kathy, are watching some boys choose up sides for a football game. Tommy is...