65 pages • 2 hours read
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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Introduction and Chapters 1-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, death, illness, mental illness, child death, death by suicide, physical abuse, and graphic violence.
Introduction Summary
The narrator (later revealed to be Harry August) addresses an unnamed enemy and friend (later revealed to be Vincent), composing a message to inform them of their defeat. The narrative that follows explains the events leading to this outcome.
Chapter 1 Summary
The story opens in 1996, at the end of Harry’s “eleventh life.” As he lies dying, a young girl delivers a message passed back through time: that the world is ending at an increasingly rapid pace. She tells him that it is now his responsibility to take steps to avert this future.
Chapter 2 Summary
Harry is born in 1919. His parents are Elizabeth Leadmill, a servant at Hulne Hall, and Rory Hulne, the master of the estate. To avoid scandal, Rory’s mother expels the pregnant Elizabeth, who likely had little choice but to consent to Rory’s advances in the first place.
On January 1, Elizabeth gives birth in a train station washroom and dies shortly thereafter. Rory’s sister, Alexandra, arranges for Patrick August, the estate groundskeeper, to adopt the infant. In his first life, Harry remains unaware of his true parentage.
