Content Warning: The novel and this guide discuss substance use disorder and suicidal ideation.

Isabel looks out her window at five in the morning in Brooklyn. A shoe repair man opens his shop, while a man in a dress makes his way home. She sees the “first tentative signs of spring,” as the “still and pale” winter air begins to change, buds begin to appear on the trees, and the neighbor puts daffodils on their windowsill (3-4). As Isabel looks out the window, she sees an owl on a tree branch, staring back at her before taking flight.

She has not slept—something that is not uncommon for her. As she turns away from the window to start her day, she thinks of her husband, Dan, her children, and her brother, Robbie, who are all still asleep.

Robbie wakes and brews coffee in Isabel and Dan’s attic apartment. He sits down to grade his students’ essays. He has a few hours before he goes in to teach as the school is being checked for asbestos.

He thinks of Wolfe, an online persona that he and Isabel created with thousands of followers. They invented a life for Wolfe through social media: He is “both fabulous and obtainable” (7), a pediatrician living in Brooklyn with his roommate, Lyla, and their dog.