Summary

Prologue

The Prologue of The Burgess Boys is narrated in the first person by a woman presumed to be the book's author. She now lives in New York, but her other still lives in the small town of Shirley Falls, Maine and the two women have fallen into the habit of talking frequently about the Burgess family, who are also from Shirley Falls. Jim Burgess has become a prominent attorney after winning a highly-publicized murder trial some years ago. His younger brother Bob also lives in New York now, but was rumored to have killed his father in some sort of tragedy when he was a child. Their sister Susan still lives in Shirley Falls, and the narrator tells her mother she plans to write the story of the Burgess kids.

Book 1, Chapter 1

Beginning with Book 1, Chapter 1, the book switches to...