Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of mental health conditions, forced institutionalization, and terrorism. The novel occasionally uses antiquated, offensive terms to describe individuals with mental health conditions, representing the stigma surrounding mental illness during the period in which the novel is set; this guide replicates such terms in direct quotations only.

In December 1992, Marion Brooks, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, oversees several movers as they box up her belongings in her Bronxville, New York, home. Marion intends to move to Sutton Gardens, an independent-living community for retirement-age adults. The move will take her away from her family home, where she has lived for her entire life. Thinking about her decline in flexibility and strength, Marion knows that she will eventually require assisted living. She vaguely references a previous time during which she worked to care for another person (who is later revealed to be her father, Simon) during his increasing health challenges toward the end of his life.

The youngest mover approaches Marion with a box from the attic that contains ballet shoes. Marion briefly reflects on her past life, alternating between joy and terror at her memories of her youth.