Summary

The final part of the novel begins with a brief, decontextualized string of misogynistic invective, drawing on the style of online chat forums and comment sections. It is a very vulgar and violent piece of text, as if extracted from the hateful anonymity of internet trolling.

This is followed by a quasi-mythological story about a brilliant young maiden who refuses to be sacrificed to the deities of her village and upends the entire cosmology of an age. The reader learns later in Part 3 that both of these texts, as with the previous preludes to Part 1 and Part 2 of the novel, are excerpted from Florence’s notebook. They represent direct quotation – the creative voice of Florence, who aspires to be a writer.

Returning to the world of the characters of the novel, Part 3 narrates, first from Richard’s perspective, then from Britt’s, how the...