Summary

Charlotte is four months pregnant with Oskar. Annelise cannot stop thinking about them conceiving the child and she feels jealous of her relationship with Oskar.

One day, on the beach, Annelise walks with Oskar and tells him how she often returns to her German apartment in her mind. She tells him “about how she moves through her old apartment, eyes closed, room to room. He nods but doesn’t reply. She whispers the most shameful part of her confession: If she’s there in her memory, who’s to say she can’t create a moment that’s as true as life? Or even truer” (182). Her parents send another letter but have not been able to secure their visas yet. They are beginning to grow despondent that they will never be able to leave Germany.

Annelise is delighted by her daughter and she begins...