More sinister, dolls begin to show signs of life in her presence, and scissors appear intent on attacking her. She awakens after fitful nights with crumply, dried leaves in her hair. Triss finds herself with an insatiable appetite, even turning to swallowing inedible objects in the absence of readily available food. Isolated by the secrets of her parents and the inexplicable hatred of her sister Pen, Triss has only herself to figure out what is going on, but the effects of the near drowning experience seem to be growing beyond her comprehension or control. But now something about this incident at the Grimmer has frightened them, and overhearing their whispers in the corridor Triss learns that the accident may involve a sinister business associate of her architect father. The Crescents have always considered their elder daughter sickly and frail, and treated her with an overbearing protectiveness that only increased after the death of their son Sebastian on the Western Front.
Unsure of how to react to the hostility of her younger sister, Triss is additionally confused that their parents seem concerned about more than Triss’ health. Triss’ younger sister Pen was there to witness the accident, but Pen sulks in the corner of the room, far from Triss, and won’t say more than angrily proclaim that Triss is lying, pretending that Triss is not who she claims to be. But she has difficulty remembering the details of how she fell in, or how she managed to get out. She gradually recalls that the family is together on vacation, and that she has had an accident, coming close to drowning in the Grimmer, a local millpond. What the future holds is not only a concern for humanity, but also for The Besiders, a race that has lived alongside us in the margins, driven further into the isolated shadows as human civilization spreads.Įleven-year-old Triss Crescent awakens in a bed surrounded by her parents and a doctor, her memory fragmented and incomplete. Nations struggle to recover and political/economic turmoil presages greater conflicts and changes to come. The Great War has come to a close, but the traumatic devastation it has wrought echoes on in family’s lives. The Machine Age is at its peak, and human society is in flux, becoming increasingly urbanized, secular. It is England during the reign of King George V.
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