The story begins with A.J. Fikry’s brief, personalized review for his daughter, Maya, of Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter.” The chapter then jumps back in time to Amelia Loman’s first visit to Alice Island.

Thirty-one-year old Amelia Loman is on her way to a “persnickety little bookstore” in an attempt to sell some of her publisher’s books when she receives a call from a suitor she dated six months earlier (5). The former suitor asks her out, then insults her and begins to cry when she rejects him. She hangs up and mulls over her mother’s concern that fiction has ruined Amelia for “real men” (9). Caught up in her thoughts, Amelia almost walks past the bookstore.

Upon entering the shop, “Island Books,” Amelia knocks down a giant stack of books, angering the very man she was hoping to smooth-talk with her sales pitch—shop owner A.J. Fikry. After she explains to A.J. that she is replacing the recently deceased publisher’s agent, Harvey Rhodes, Amelia convinces him to look at her list of books. A.J. briefly humors her, then cuts her off and explains that Harvey Rhodes understood him whereas Amelia clearly does not; he lists several genres he will not consider shelving in his store.