Here we can talk in detail about what happens in the first part of the book: how Bradbury sets the scene, what themes emerge, what works and what doesn't.

First a quick refresher. Part one is where we meet Montag and Clarisse - and see their own "strange meeting", in turn. Montag tells Clarisse that kerosense is "like perfume" to him, but soon we see his certainties undermined. His happiness is a "mask" his wife is suicidal. The Hound doesn't like him - and that has to be bad news. Worse still, instead of burning books, he's taken to collecting them...