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 39-43Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “A Drop in a Bowl of Milk”

Part 2, Chapter 39 Summary: “Fragments”

Beginning from Clare’s point of view, a series of snippets is described throughout the chapter. Henry crashes into his home, freezing. Clare rushes him to the ER. Henry is treated over the course of three days for hypothermia and frostbite and eventually loses his feet. About three weeks later, Henry returns home miserable and in a wheelchair. He becomes increasingly despondent until Kimy comes over and motivates him to take a bath. Clare takes to designing, creating an angel sculpture of Henry. As the chapter concludes, Clare brings Henry into her studio and reveals the sculpture.

Part 2, Chapter 40 Summary: “Feet Dreams”

Henry narrates some of his vivid dreams, of which his missing feet are the primary subject.

In the second part of the chapter, Clare discusses how Henry is teaching her how to cook.

Part 2, Chapter 41 Summary: “What Goes Around Comes Around”

The chapter begins in the present, December of 2006, before moving to 1994. Henry travels to visit Ingrid and does not have feet. When Ingrid sees him, she is not sympathetic, though she does offer him painkillers from her private stash of drugs. Henry and Ingrid talk, and it is clear that she holds much animosity toward him. The conversation takes a dark turn when Ingrid pulls out a gun.

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By Audrey Niffenegger