Part One, Beginnings: Dickens's Study, The Almanacs, In the Archives of the Banbury Herald, Ruins, The Friendly Giant, and Graves, Summary

Margaret spends the evening transcribing the day's story, thinking about the twins and the other characters in the story, wondering what will happen now that Isabelle is gone. Margaret finds it interesting that Miss Winter never uses the pronoun I when telling her story and wonders why. While Margaret is thinking of this, Judith comes and tells her that Miss Winter would like to see her. Miss Winter talks to Margaret about a picture of Dickens in his study with all his works floating around his head and compares her creative talents to that picture. Miss Winter explains that her stories, her work, have kept...