Birthday

1. Birthday (Clare is 21, Henry is 28)

2. Sunday, May 24, 1992 It is Clare’s 21st birthday and her and Henry are alone in Henry’s flat where he is cooking her a birthday dinner. Henry and Clare talk about their sexually side of their relationship and Clare wonders if they do it to much. Henry does not think so and that his perfect life would be to lie in bed and do it all day. After this talk Henry asks Clare to marry him and she says yes. Henry knowing that she already has actually married him.

3. Sunday, May 31, 1992 The middle part of this chapter is where Henry and Clare go to meet Henry’s father, Richard DeTamble. He lives with a Chinese woman, Kimy. Henry is very nervous for Clare to meet his father for the first time. At dinner Clare asks Mr. DeTamble about Annette, his wife and Henry’s mother. Henry’s father tells Clare about Annette and how much of a happy person and wonderful singer she was. They leave and Henry is very pleased how it went, and tells Clare that his dad loved her.

4. Wednesday, June 10, 1992 The final part of this chapter is about Clare, Celia and Ingrid. Clare is sitting in a coffee shop having a drink when she notices Celia across the road, who then comes in and talks to Clare. They both talk about Henry and Ingrid and Celia insists that Clare goes with her now to meet Ingrid who is waiting in a bar for Celia. After much pleading and Celia having to run away stealing Clare’s books she follows Celia to the bar.

5. Ingrid is not happy that Celia has brought along Clare and has a go at Celia. Clare walks away and has she has turned, she has seen the engagement ring on Clare’s finger. (the ring that belonged to Henry’s mother) Ingrid is furious at Celia for bringing her here knowing that she was engaged and that Ingrid didn’t know. Ingrid again has a go at Celia and leaves, leaving Celia sitting at a table on her own.

6. Relationships Henry asks Clare to marry him and she says yes which makes their ever growing relationship with each other even stronger than before. Clare meets people she hasn’t met before in this chapter, such as Henry’s father and Kimy. Both of these characters love Clare and so she has a good relationship with these to begin with. Her relationship with Ingrid is very minimal up to this point. She has only see Ingrid once before and so has not properly met her. After this chapter Ingrid hates Clare because she thinks she was gloating that her and Henry are getting married, when she really wasn’t.

7. Cross-References In this chapter, Richard DeTamble tells Clare about Annette. Henry winces while he’s talking and looks at his father talking with such a sadness look about him. Henry does not like talking about his mother much in the novel as he gets very annoyed about it as he feels that he ‘cheated’ his way out of death. And so when his dad is talking about his mother he thinks about it and feels sad.

8. Key Quotes I have and overwhelming sense of déjà vu. “But you know, really...I already have.” This is what Clare says after Henry asked her to marry him and she said yes. It is referring to the future that Henry has been to, where Clare has already married him and she knows this because she says yes.