By 1942, enlistment in the army has become compulsory for all eligible men between 18 and 37. Hope is relieved that her husband, by now 39, is outside the ambit of the draft. Prudence, a doctor, tells Honor that a “bad knee” or separated shoulder can help men escape the enlistment. Honor keeps these details in mind.

As news of the Nazi treatment of the Jewish people floods Pennacook, like the rest of the world, Thomas and Constance worry about its effects on Jimmy. Jimmy is aware of his Jewish heritage, but he is too young to comprehend the ongoing horrors in Europe. Constance tells Thomas that they must explain things to Jimmy soon, before he finds out from an overheard conversation. Adults forget the fact, but children are always listening to them. Thomas and Constance discuss how news of the Holocaust has made the Pennacook folk sympathize with the Jewish people; they hope the sympathy does not end with the war.

Meanwhile, Esther returned to Israel soon after Jimmy’s birth. News of Esther arrives from shifting addresses. Esther’s letters are cryptic and vague as always, with her sending a photo of the Haifa wrestling club in one missive: No one can tell who Moshe is from the group of tattooed wrestlers. In 1948, the state of Israel is formed with David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister. Ben-Gurion founds the Mossad (the chief intelligence agency of Israel) in 1949, yet Esther’s letters never mention the organization. The Winslows wonder if this is because Esther herself is working for the Mossad.

By 1951, when Jimmy is 10 years old, news organizations have begun to criticize the tactics of the Mossad, alleging it operates as a shadow government, with unauthorized powers independent of the country’s official bureaucratic apparatus. Isaac Drucker does not take well to the criticism, telling the Winslows that the Mossad’s tactics do not matter as long as they catch and kill the Nazis.

Jimmy has known of his birth mother since he was six, and often asks questions about her and his father. Honor tells Jimmy that he will grow up handsome like his father, though Honor is not sure if Moshe is good-looking. She shows Jimmy photos of the wrestler’s club, pointing out the man she thinks is Moshe, as well as pictures of Esther. The Winslows note Jimmy has Esther’s hands, though his stature might be like Moshe’s.

As Jimmy grows up, his friend Chantal—the youngest daughter of the Winslows’ friends, the Beaudettes—declares that Jimmy will be the same size as her when she grows up, though powerful like his father. Thomas discreetly seeks out the wrestling coach at the Pennacook academy, requesting him to watch Jimmy for an aptitude at the sport. Jimmy and his friend Arnaud, Chantal’s nephew, watch Coach Ted train his charges, eager for the date they can join the team. Jimmy does not tell Arnaud, but he has a huge crush on Chantal by the time he is 13.

As Jimmy grows up, Honor worries that he will never take a chance on love, given that neither she nor Esther have pursued long-term romantic relationships. Thomas fears that Jimmy, keen to be loved, will chase unattainable and “difficult” women.

Thomas uses literature to drive home his point: For Jimmy’s 15th birthday, Thomas gifts him a copy of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Thomas and Jimmy spend their evenings reading aloud chapters from the novel to each other, Jimmy taking on the even-numbered chapters. Since the family knows Thomas’s roundabout pedagogical methods, they suspect Thomas is using Great Expectations to make Jimmy feel better about himself. After all, Jimmy may not have spent time with his birth-parents, but unlike Pip, the protagonist of Great Expectations, Jimmy has grown up with a large, adoring family.

It is only Constance who realizes that the real lesson Thomas wants to impart is the futility of pursuing someone like Estella. Jimmy and Thomas debate the novel’s supposedly happy ending, where Pip declares he does not foresee another parting from Estella. As Thomas had hoped, Jimmy states that, unlike Pip, he would stay as far away as possible from Estella. Constance is impressed by the effectiveness of her Tommy’s teaching methods.

However, Thomas’s lessons have an unexpected fallout. Swept up by the emotional appeal of Dickens’s writing, Jimmy decides that he wants to be a novelist in a similar vein. Thomas frets that Jimmy’s choice of a writing style that is already outdated will not serve him well professionally. Another academic area which worries Thomas is Jimmy’s choice of foreign language. Unlike the easier Spanish, Jimmy takes German, the language of his birth parents. Given his academic load, Jimmy takes five years to complete his junior and senior years at Thomas’s school.

Even though Jimmy takes a while to pass his courses, he does well in the school wrestling team under the guidance of Coach Ted. The Winslows are especially proud of Jimmy when he and Arnaud take on the much-bigger Duvall brothers (Marcel and Marceau) after they beat up a Jewish teammate in an antisemitic incident. Arnaud, Jimmy, and the rest of the wrestlers are let off with a warning by Pennacook Academy.

Jimmy graduates from school and enrolls for an English degree at the University of New Hampshire, where Chantal recently studied. In 1962, Esther writes that Moshe died of prostate cancer. Jimmy does not know how to mourn for a father he never met. Prudence, the doctor, tells Jimmy she will keep an eye on his prostate.

Honor has not forgotten Prudence’s advice on how to avoid the army draft. Almost as if she can predict the future (the Vietnam war), Honor wants Jimmy to suffer an injury that will disqualify him from ever being considered for service. The injury should be serious enough, but not something that will otherwise impact Jimmy’s quality of life. Using her knowledge as a nurse, Honor zeroes in on the knee tear (torn meniscus) and the subsequent open meniscal surgery, in which the entire meniscus is removed. When Jimmy enrolls in college and stops wrestling competitively, Honor despairs Jimmy will never be classified as 4-F—“registrant not acceptable for military service due to physical, mental, or moral defect” (158). However, she is relieved to learn that Jimmy continues to practice wrestling, and injuries are often suffered during practice itself.

Jimmy’s German continues to be shaky in college, leading him to seek a year abroad learning the language. Jimmy is accepted at the Institute of European Studies program in German at Vienna. Esther arranges for a young Israeli woman called Annelis Eissler to tutor Jimmy. The Rosenthals worry about the woman, since according to them an Israeli woman in Germany is possibly a Nazi hunter.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy introduces draft deferment for men with children. This category now includes single men with a strong relationship with a dependent child. Honor registers another loophole for Jimmy to evade an eventual draft.

Meanwhile, as Jimmy prepares to go to Vienna, he feels happy his birth-mother chose a tutor for him. He whispers to Esther in his sleep that he is following in her footsteps, going first to Vienna, and then Jerusalem, “like you” (170).

Jimmy starts writing his first novel, basing its main character on Thomas. The summer before his departure to Vienna, Jimmy tries to reconnect with his childhood best friend, Arnaud. Arnaud, who has graduated from college, plans to join the army. Arnaud jokes that Jimmy will impregnate a girl in Vienna, as his aunt Chantal, still great friends with Honor, hopes. Jimmy does not tell Arnaud, but he would prefer getting someone pregnant in Vienna than joining the war.

He changes the subject by asking him about Chantal’s plans. Arnaud replies that Chantal wants to marry a Frenchman and live child-free in Paris. Jimmy privately thinks he gets why Chantal would not want to have babies—as the youngest Beaudette daughter, she has practically raised many of her sisters’ children. Jimmy also thinks he could be happy just with Chantal, without needing children, but cannot confess his feelings to Arnaud. Jimmy feels he and Arnaud have grown apart.

Jimmy brings up the subject of his fading friendship before Chantal. Chantal tells Jimmy there is no point telling Arnaud that Jimmy wants to be a novelist, as Arnaud has stopped reading books and would not understand. Chantal and Jimmy themselves have more in common, including their unusual interest in the history of circumcision. Researching the subject in the library, they learn that circumcision—once restricted to Jewish and Muslim communities—became common practice due to the US’s growing cultural influence. By 1955, boyhood-circumcision was a routine practice in countries as diverse as South Korea and Australia. However, as Chantal tells Jimmy, most European nations have been slower to warm up to the practice, with most Frenchmen being uncircumcised.

Jimmy sails to Vienna on the Queen Elizabeth. In Vienna, the IES has arranged for their students to board with local families, Jimmy boarding with two other students (not from the IES) at the Holzingers’. Jimmy’s fellow-students are Jolanda Lammers, a tall young woman from Amsterdam, and Claude Gilbert, the scion of a wealthy Parisian family. Since Jolanda and Claude speak German fluently, to Jimmy they appear the height of European sophistication.

Soon after his arrival at the Holzinger home, Jimmy gets in touch with Annelis, the tutor Esther arranged for him. Annelis has a decisive manner over the phone, which Jimmy finds very attractive. She tells Jimmy that their tutorials will take place in his room thrice a week for two-hour blocs each.

Meanwhile, Jimmy gets to know the Holzinger family, which consists of a widowed mother, her unmarried daughter Irmgard, and Irmgard’s five-year-old son, Siegfried. Irmgard always seems angry, perhaps because of her responsibilities as a single parent.