Chapters 1-2 Summary

Thomas is introduced as a boy who "saw things no one else could see." He sees hailstorms and the leaves falling from trees, even though his mother doesn't believe him. Thomas also writes about everything he sees and experiences in a journal that he calls The Book of Everything.

When Thomas asks at dinner what books are about, his stern father answers that "all important books are about God." But Mother quietly points out that books "are about God as well as about love." Thomas senses that his mother is unhappy, and wants to comfort her, but can only wish that "God will punish Father terribly, with bubonic plague or something."

While walking home one day, Thomas meets Eliza, a beautiful girl with an artificial leg made of leather and four missing fingers on her hand. They have a brief conversation...