In A Dark Dark Wood

In the brief Prologue, the first-person narrator of the story, Nora, is running through dark woods. She is desperately trying to reach the road. She is in pain, with the name “James, James, James” repeating in her mind. Nora sees the headlights of a car coming down the road ahead of her and runs the last few yards. She frantically jumps out onto the road and yells at the driver to stop.

Since this is the very beginning of the book, we don’t understand anything about what is happening in this scene. We don’t know Nora’s name, where she is, or what is going on. The book begins with a mystery for the reader.

Nora wakes up in the hospital with every part of her body hurting. She smells blood on herself. A voice calls her “Leonora” and tells her that the doctors will scan her for injuries. Nora sees a woman speaking to her and whispers that her name is “Nora.” The nurse tells Nora to relax and assures her that the scan will not hurt. Nora rebuffs this in her mind: “But it does. Everything hurts. What has happened? What have I done?” (3).