The Blue Hour

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The Prologue consists of three parts. The first part features an unnamed narrator, possibly Vanessa Chapman, describing a terrifying scene in which she goes down to the beach and wades into the water, alone, at night. The tide overwhelms her, and she barely manages to drag herself out to return to her home. The second part mimics the label on a piece of art, describing a sculpture called Division II, which Vanessa created. The sculpture consists of objects suspended on wires inside of a glass box. The third part is an email to the Tate Modern Gallery (where the sculpture is on display) from a forensic anthropologist named Benjamin Jefferies. After viewing the sculpture, Benjamin emails the gallery to inform them that the sculpture contains a human rib bone (rather than the bone of a deer, as the display card states).

James Becker lives and works at Fairburn Estate, a country estate. The estate is owned by Lady Emmeline Lennox and will eventually be inherited by her son, Sebastian, who is Becker’s longtime friend. He receives a call from staff at the Tate Modern: Fairburn owns Vanessa Chapman’s sculptures, but three of the artworks (including Division II) are on loan to the Tate.