Rose and David’s father spend most of their time looking after David’s half-brother, Georgie. Rose wants David to like her, but David feels like his father married Rose as a replacement for his mother. He resents Georgie’s presence because Georgie reminds him of all the changes in his life and steals his father’s attention. He withdraws as much as possible to avoid his new family, spending his days reading the old fairy tale books in his room from the window seat that overlooks the sunken garden.

David is curious about the books’ previous owner and finds the name Jonathan Tulvey written inside the covers of two books. David learns from Rose that his room used to be Jonathan’s, the elder brother of Rose’s father. At age 14, Jonathan disappeared along with his younger adopted sister, Anna. The two children were never found, and Jonathan’s room and books were left as they were when he disappeared.

Tension in the house builds, as Rose is stretched thin caring for Georgie and David’s father works hard in his job analyzing German codes for the war. David begins to experience “waking dreams” (48) in which he sees visions of a dark, cold forest, and hears what sounds like his mother’s