61 pages • 2 hours read
The Sirens
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Part 1, Prologue-Chapter 10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of graphic violence and sexual assault.
Part 1, Prologue Summary
Inside a cave, an unnamed woman gives birth. She admires the baby’s “tiny starfish hands; the half-closed eyes; the shell-pink lips” (3).
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Lucy”
Monday, 11 February 2019
Hamilton Hume University, Broken Hill, NSW, Australia
900 kilometers inland.
Lucy Martin awakes from sleepwalking to find she is strangling a fellow college student, Ben. Frightened, she runs back to her room. She recalls a dream of a man attacking her near water, but she’s never walked in her sleep before. Lucy knows she could be suspended or charged with assault, but she feels she can’t go home to her parents and tell them what Ben has done. She packs a backpack, finds her sister Jess’s address in Comber Bay, and begins driving. She tries calling Jess, but there is no answer.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Lucy”
Monday, 11 February 2019
Lucy’s friend Em texts to ask what is happening. Lucy slept with Ben before the beginning of the summer holiday in December. They’d stayed in contact, and Lucy, wanting to keep his interest, asked if he wanted a picture. When she returned to school, Em revealed that the picture of Lucy was on TikTok, showing the “crusted white flesh on her torso, the silver streaks across her breasts” (11).
