Night, a sleepless man, a sleeping woman. He abandons himself to images that only blossom between waking and sleeping and feels that "insomnia is a dark animal with eyes as red as embers".

“Hotel Ellesmere is on the south side of Hyde Park, in East Kensington, one of London’s poshest districts and home to the creator of Peter Pan”. Lily, about to start at university on a grant, is amazed at the luxury of where she’ll be living.