As chapter 8 opens, we have quite a contrast in tone, right from the start. It’s nice weather, almost like June, and she recalls fond memories of the month of June. But then suddenly, we’re brought back into the current, terrible reality. She can’t stay “out of time” very long. Three bodies hang on the wall. One is a Catholic priest. So, we know this protestant sect hates Catholicism, unless something else happened to put him on the wall. Also, there are two gay people. There’s been some “gender treachery” among the Guardians. This recalls the homosexual culture prominent in all-male settings—often among heterosexual males just trying to meet their needs given the lack of female companionship. Of course, they could have also just been gay. The former happens, so it’s been told, in prisons and in the military. It happened, for example, in ancient Sparta where boys are taken from their homes at age eight and forced to live in military barracks until they could marry in their thirties. Even then, they often still slept in military barracks. And...