Behind Her Eyes

This chapter contains five lines of instructions seemingly for staying awake and calm.

In this chapter of only one short paragraph and a single line, an omniscient third-person narrator refers to “a terrible and necessary act” (5) committed in a wood by a relieved, remorseless, and yet nameless male character.

This chapter is written in the first person from Adele’s point of view. She has just cooked dinner and cleaned up the house and garden after a fight with David earlier in the day. He comes home, clearly drunk, and goes straight to bed. Adele perceives his loathing and disgust for her and feels rejected but determined to keep trying as, “This is our fresh start. Our new beginning. It has to be” (8). She wonders why he cannot still love her. She goes to bed, vowing never to give up on David.