The Bone Clocks

Early the following morning, Holly suspects that Ed may be trying to endear himself to her. She leaves him behind at the church. On the road, she sees Jacko standing at the entrance to an underpass. She pursues Jacko inside, but the underpass suddenly transforms into a dark room where she sees Miss Constantin. There’s a commotion that causes Miss Constantin to scream. Holly sees a man with eyes that resemble a piranha’s and hears a voice saying, “I’ll be here” (46). The room then turns back into the underpass, and Jacko is nowhere in sight.

Holly passes a phone booth and gets the idea to call the fruit farm where Ed works. She convinces the owner of the farm to give her a job and hitches a ride there with two Socialist postgraduate students named Ian and Heidi. Ian and Heidi explain their revolutionary beliefs to her, especially in light of the upcoming miners’ strike. They then offer to stop over at their place for breakfast.

Holly impresses Ian and Heidi by parroting everything Ed had told her about the InterRail. While she washes the dishes, a cassette of Bob Dylan songs starts skipping. She is about to fix the tape when she notices Heidi and Ian unconscious on the patio. She rushes to call an ambulance but sees the man with the piranha eyes inside the house. He asks her whether she is Esther Little or Marinus, and threatens to kill her, threatening that two other people, Holokai and Xi Lo, are dead. The man describes a chapel where the Horologists fought against the Anchorites. When the man realizes that Holly isn’t a Horologist, he pulls her into the house telekinetically and presses her for information on Marinus and Esther Little before indicating that Jacko is not what he appears to be. Afraid that the man will harm her brother, Holly tells him about her brief encounter with Esther at the river, as well as the deal she brokered for asylum. Heidi’s body suddenly comes back to life and identifies the man as Rhîmes. Rhîmes, in turn, recognizes Heidi as Marinus and uses his mental powers to break Heidi’s body. Just as Rhîmes is about to murder Holly, Ian’s reanimated body kills him. Ian hints that he is now actually Esther Little, who claims her request for asylum. Holly grants it out of gratitude for saving her life, and Esther, taking refuge in Holly’s mind, erases her memories of Ian, Heidi, and Rhîmes.

Holly finds herself at a bridge, where she meets a cyclist who is grieving the death of his son. While asking for directions to the fruit farm, she bumps into Vinny and Stella at a café. She hides from them and feels her pain anew. She continues toward the farm and reaches it near the end of the afternoon. At the pickers’ dormitory, she is placed together with another girl named Gwyn. Holly doesn’t initially get along with her, but when a male picker named Gary tries to make a pass at Holly, Gwyn comes in to rescue her.

Holly has a nightmare that she is pregnant but doesn’t know the father. At the end of her dream, she receives a cryptic message that the baby will come “at three on the Day of the Star of Riga” (83). Gwyn comforts Holly when she wakes up, advising her that it’s alright to go home and warning her of the trouble she could get into if she stays on.

That morning, the pickers hear the news that three bodies have been found at a nearby bungalow after being violently killed. They speculate over the murders and wonder whether they should be cautious of a killer roaming the area. Later, Gwyn tells Holly that she too ran away from home to escape her abusive father. She shares her story to give Holly an idea of what to expect from life on the road. But just as she finishes, Ed Brubeck shows up at the farm: Jacko disappeared over the weekend. Holly is shocked by the news. Ed takes her back to Gravesend.

The narrative shifts to the perspective of Hugo Lamb, a philandering Cambridge student who has sex with a woman after they both watch a choir practice. The woman introduces herself as Immaculée Constantin and discusses the possibility of gaining enough power to indefinitely delay death. Hugo dismisses her notions, but she claims that their encounter is a “seed” before suddenly disappearing, time having sped up without Hugo noticing.

Hugo goes back to his residence at Humber College to drink with his friends, all of whom come from affluent or noble backgrounds. They talk about their professional futures and the work of Crispin Hershey, a contemporary novelist. In the men’s room, Hugo bumps into an old acquaintance from New Zealand who reintroduces himself as Elijah D’Arnoq. Elijah mentions that he is an Anchorite, but Hugo doesn’t know what that means. When Hugo gets back to his friends, he recognizes one of their girlfriends as Ness, whom he slept with years ago. She doesn’t seem to remember him, however. Hugo offers to buy everyone a round of drinks.

One of Hugo’s friends, Richard Cheeseman, is attacked by a Goth-metal band after writing a scathing review of their performance. Hugo scares them off with the threat of the law. Ness’s boyfriend, Olly, takes Richard to the hospital. Back at the residence hall, Hugo tells Olly that he brought Ness to the train station. However, it is revealed that Hugo actually had sex with Ness.

A week later, Hugo visits his family in London and treats them to lunch with the salary he makes at the solicitor’s office. Hugo is seeing them before he goes to the Swiss Alps with his friends to celebrate the New Year.

That afternoon, Hugo goes to visit Brigadier Philby, a veteran with dementia, to read to him. Before seeing the brigadier at the home for the elderly, Hugo breaks up with Mariângela, a Brazilian nurse he’s fallen in love with. During the reading, the brigadier accusingly brings up his valuable stamps, mentioning the police. After the reading, Hugo and Mariângela have sex once more. Mariângela asks when she can meet Hugo’s family, but Hugo is too embarrassed to introduce her. When Mariângela gets upset with him, Hugo frankly tells her that they’re just a fling, not long-term partners.

Hugo passes by an Aston Martin dealership, where he inquires about car prices from salesman Vinny Costello. Hugo explains to Vinny that his friend, Jonny Penhaligon, wants to sell his Aston Martin to recoup family financial losses.

Hugo visits a stamp collector shop and offers a set of rare stamps—implied to have been stolen from the brigadier—to the proprietor. They reach a deal for 10,000 pounds, which Hugo immediately deposits in a Swiss bank under the pseudonym Marcus Anyder. Hugo passes an unhoused man being harassed by two other men and gives him 40 pounds out of pity. Hugo reflects on what it means to beat “the system,” recalling a woman he slept with who lived in a commune that claimed to live sustainably without money. Before Hugo left her, she asked him for money.

When Hugo reaches home, Jonny Penhaligon is there to seek advice. Jonny is deep in debt after losing multiple rounds of poker to an acquaintance of theirs named Toad. Hugo advises him to sell his Aston Martin, offering to connect him to a local dealer. Jonny is ashamed to go through with the deal, having inherited the car from his late father. He ultimately relents, asking Hugo to broker the deal on his behalf. Soon after, Hugo calls Toad and confirms that Jonny has agreed to sell the car, implying that Hugo and Toad are working together to swindle him.

Hugo encounters the unhoused man again outside his house. This time, the unhoused man identifies himself as Immaculée Constantin and claims that she wants to “germinate the seed” (142). A fearful Hugo tries to convince Constantin that he doesn’t want any part of what she has to offer.

Hugo and his friends ski race in the Alps. When Hugo crashes and falls hopelessly behind, he is rescued by a woman who speaks to him in French. Hugo finds himself at a loss to deploy his usual charms as he struggles to keep up with her.

Later, Hugo is still thinking about Miss Constantin and turning over the possibility that the unhoused man really was her somehow. He and his friends head to a pub in town, where Olly tells them that Ness has broken up with him. As the group consoles Olly over the nature of love, Hugo admits that he has never been in love. The group is incredulous. The French skier Hugo encountered serves them a round of drinks—she is a waitress at the bar.

As the group returns to their chalet, Hugo makes an excuse to head back to the pub, so that he can talk to the waitress. Once again, Hugo stumbles through his French, which leads the bar owner to wonder why he is trying to speak French with his English waitress, Holly Sykes. Hugo offers to buy her dinner out of gratitude, but Holly declines over a full schedule.

Hugo is still thinking about Holly when he gets a call from Richard, who informs him that Jonny Penhaligon has died by suicide, driving his Aston Martin off a cliff. Hugo rues the lost opportunity to swindle Jonny for the value of the car. Richard mentions that an inquest is underway.

Hugo waits for Holly at the ski lodge and offers to ski with her as soon as she arrives. Holly declines, but Hugo persists, assuring her that he means her no harm. Holly then relents and they ride the ski lift up to the summit. Hugo finds that even in English, he is unable to charm her. Holly bids Hugo goodbye but gives him her surname before pushing off.

When Hugo returns to the chalet, his host, Rufus Chetwynd-Pitt theorizes on the reasons for Jonny’s death, suggesting that he had felt immense pressure to live up to his privilege.

Hugo again invites Holly to breakfast, but she once again refuses on account of work. Hugo offers to help her clean the lavatory, and while they work together, Hugo asks about her upbringing. They agree to meet again without setting any definite plans. On his way out, Hugo overhears Olly in a phone booth furiously talking to Ness about their breakup.

Hugo and his friends do cocaine at a dance club that night. Rufus offhandedly references Hugo’s skill at cheating in card games, which Hugo strongly refutes. The resulting argument nearly escalates into a fight, but Rufus leaves while Hugo remains at the club. Afterwards, Hugo heads to Holly’s pub to welcome the New Year with her.

Hugo suddenly becomes paranoid that his father will call to tell him that Jonny had exposed his scam in his suicide note. When his father does call, he explains that a detective from Scotland Yard would like to speak to Hugo about an artwork-related investigation, which Hugo supposes is related to the rare stamps he stole from the brigadier. While Hugo packs and escapes, his friends are extorted by sex workers from the club.

Hugo tries to look for Holly, but she is the one who finds him as he hides from Olly and one of the extortion enforcers. As a blizzard descends, Hugo and Holly take shelter at Holly’s apartment and bond. Holly tells him about Jacko’s disappearance, and Hugo tries to convince her to stop blaming herself for it. Hugo realizes he is falling in love with Holly. After the blizzard, Holly leaves a note and quietly goes to work.

Hugo takes her note and heads out. He again meets Elijah D’Arnoq, who sends Miss Constantin’s regards. Elijah invites him to come along, and Hugo feels his fear of the police overcoming his love for Holly. Hugo enters Elijah’s car and meets Pfenninger, the founder of the Anchorites. Pfenninger explains the purposes of the group, which is to sustain the lives of its members. He demonstrates the group’s principal skills: telepathy and telekinesis.

Two days suddenly go by without Hugo noticing. They reach the chapel where the Anchorites are based. Elijah and Pfenninger reveal that they are both centuries old, confirming the Anchorites’ immortality. Miss Constantin emerges through a portal and asks Hugo if he is joining their group.