In The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the unnamed narrator, a co-protagonist with the Hempstocks, recalls a strange adventure he had when he was a young boy of seven. As a child, he’s often alone and comes to enjoy hobbies like reading and classical music. Befriended by Lettie Hempstock, a girl who lives at the end of the lane, he travels with her to a strange, alternate reality, where he’s accidentally infected with a part of this reality and brings it back to his world. The narrator shares his struggles with the Hempstock women, and they help rid him of the infection and the problems it causes. He learns to use his independent nature to make difficult choices and see them through. His story is an attempt to make sense of a childhood caught between worlds—a search for meaning amid events that change him in ways he can’t fully understand.

Lettie Hempstock has been 11 years old for a long time. She lives on Hempstock Farm at the end of the lane where the narrator lived as a boy. Her “red-brown hair was worn relatively short, for a girl, and her nose was snub.