43 pages 1 hour read

Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

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Part 2, Chapters 15-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “A Drop in a Bowl of Milk”

Part 2, Chapter 15 Summary: “Married Life”

It’s 1994. Clare is 22, Henry is 30. Clare and Henry both chronicle their new married life together. Henry is still disappearing in time, and uses his travels to the future to win the lottery. Clare is reluctant to cash in on the ticket but finally concedes. The couple goes house shopping. Henry has seen their house during his travels to the future, and has a very specific target in mind. After much searching, they finally find and buy the home Henry has seen.

As the chapter concludes, future Henry and present Henry once again cross paths. After a time travel, present Henry reappears injured and covered in glass. Future Henry and Clare help him. All of this takes place in front of Gomez and Charisse.

Part 2, Chapter 16 Summary: “Library Science Fiction”

The start of this chapter continues linearly from the previous. It is now 1995. Henry has been disappearing at the Newberry Library where he works and reappearing without clothes. He mentions the interior stairwell of the library, a fenced area between the stairwells called “the cage.” Should he ever appear in the cage, he wouldn’t be able to get out.

When his boss Roberto catches him naked, Henry has no explanation, and says he cannot recall how he ended up without his clothes.

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By Audrey Niffenegger