Summary

In the Prologue, the narrator, Emma, convinces her mother to tell her a bedtime story. Her mother complains that she is tired, which Emma says she always is. Emma remembers that her mother is especially tired in the evenings when she has had a lot of wine to drink. She knows that her mother will reject telling her a fairy tale, so she asks her to tell her a lake story. Her mother tells her a story about a girl who lives on a lake. She is happy in the summer and does a lot of activities. The lake feels like home. She is sad in the winter though when it feels as if the world leaves the lake by itself.

In Chapter 1, Emma is at her father’s wedding reception with her friends, Bridget and Ryan. They are talking about the...