Life After Life Chapter 1 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Be Ye Men of Valor

November 1930

  • A woman enters a smoky café somewhere in Germany.
  • She sits at a table with a "pasty […] softly repellant" (1.3) man she knows, as well as his friends, setting her handbag on the floor.
  • They make das small talk in German, and order lots of food: Kirschtorte, Pflaumen Streusel, maybe even a toaster strudel delivered.
  • The man turns out to be Hitler, and the woman, who is named Ursula, reaches into her handbag, pulls out a revolver, and shoots Der Fuhrer.
  • All the men around the table pull out their guns and "darkness fell" (1.14).