Part 1 Summary

The first part of this novel introduces the background of Robert and his family. Character development is key in this part of the storyline. After the death of Robert’s sister, Rowena, Robert felt guilty that he could not have stopped the tragic event from happening. He enlisted into the Canadian Armed Forces after Mrs. Ross and he mauled over a feud over the death in their family. Robert had a great relationship with Rowena, acting like her guardian. When she died, Robert felt remorsefully guilty because he was not there to stop her from falling out of her wheelchair. Instead, Robert was confined to his room where he was making love to his pillows. Rowena cared for over 10 rabbits before she passed away, and since no one else was responsible for them Mrs. Ross wanted Robert to kill the defenseless animals, in which he refused to do. Robert’s mother then resulted in calling Teddy Budge, a man with no remorse, to proceed with the assassination of the rabbits. In an attempt to save the rabbits, Robert was beaten by Teddy Budge and the slaughter was completed.

Robert joined the army. In training camp, Robert met a war hero, Eugene Taffler, while searching for lost horses. Taffler was a very large, strong man who was shattering bottles with rocks, while his dog sat alongside him.

A 6-shooter gun. Similar to the one Robert
owns and used to put the horse out of its misery

The book then describes Robert’s life on a boat, the S.S. Massanabie, on route to England. Illness and disease was airbourne throughout the voyage. Privacy and space was hard to come by in this boat. Robert was assigned to care for horses in the infirmary during the trip. On the voyage, Robert made his closest friend that he would ever in the army. His name was Harris and he contracted a bad case of pneumonia, which later got him reassigned to the hospital in England. One night, during a storm, one of the horses broke their leg and Robert was commanded to put it out of its misery. Robert had to go against his morals and love of animals to put the horse out of its pain. He struggled. It took Robert six shots to finally put the beast to rest, which scarred him mentally and emotionally and the war hasn’t even begun for Robert.