Prologue

To Briony Williams the town of Maryville, a quaint, old-school rich Connecticut town, has never been anything but a temporary holding place. Unlike her peers, Briony longs for the freedom she believes is to be found outside of Maryville's suffocatingly dull life and shallow social scene. And so she counts the days till her eighteenth birthday will grant her a way out. Until then, she plans to spend her remaining time at Maryville Preparatory School in the same way she has always done: daydreaming of life outside of Maryville in the quiet shadows of her boisterous, competitive and haughty peers. Needless to say, falling in love is not part of this plan. However, Briony soon learns that love is neither something she can control nor a black-and-white fairytale. Rather, it is a matter of small coincidences and much larger circumstances.