46 pages 1 hour read

Helen Oyeyemi

The Icarus Girl

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

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Part 2, Chapters 8-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary

The next Saturday, Jess’s parents are planning to go to a party with Jess’s aunt and uncle but are having trouble finding a babysitter for Jess and her cousin, Dulcie. Later in her bedroom, Jess overhears her mother talking to a babysitter on the phone, explaining that the babysitter will have no trouble with Dulcie, but that Jess is a sensitive kid. In her bedroom, Jess tries to draw the woman with the long arms whom she dreamt about again the night before. TillyTilly appears. When TillyTilly sees the drawings of the long-armed woman, she scolds Jess for spying on the portrait of the woman in the Boys’ Quarters and crumples up all of Jess’s drawings. TillyTilly begins a drawing of herself, and Jess notes that the drawing is not very good and thinks TillyTilly lied about being a lot older than Jess.

That night, Jess’s aunt and uncle drop off Dulcie along with a babysitter named Lidia. Lidia, Dulcie, and Jess eat ice cream and watch videos in the sitting room. They hear a noise upstairs, and Lidia goes to check, but all the windows are shut and nobody is there. Jess then sees TillyTilly at the top of the stairs.