Hannibal Rising recap

This prequel traces the origins of Hannibal Lecter. As a boy from an aristocratic Lithuanian family, he flees with his little sister Mischa as the Second World War overruns their homeland, and after their parents are killed the two children fall into the hands of a band of starving deserters and looters. In the depths of that winter the men kill and cannibalize Mischa, and Hannibal survives, traumatized and mute, the memory buried. After the war he is sent to a Soviet-run orphanage, then escapes to France to live with his uncle and the uncle's Japanese widow, Lady Murasaki, who becomes his mentor and the one person he loves. Growing into a brilliant young medical student, Hannibal sets out to find and destroy the men responsible for his sister's death, hunting them down one by one and killing them with cold, escalating ferocity. A French inspector, Popil, circles ever closer but cannot stop him. By the time his revenge is complete, Hannibal has become a monster, hollowed of ordinary feeling, and the woman who cared for him can no longer reach him.

The story opens on the childhood of Hannibal Lecter, the young son of a noble Lithuanian family living on their ancestral estate, an intelligent, sheltered boy devoted above all to his small sister, Mischa. Their comfortable, cultured world of castle and countryside is set against the gathering menace of the Second World War, which is about to sweep across the region. The family's privilege and safety are shown at the very moment they begin to crumble, establishing the bond between the two children and the peace that the coming catastrophe will destroy. This entry covers only the premise and setting at the outset, before the war closes in on the family.

Hannibal completes his revenge, tracking down and killing each of the men who murdered and ate his sister Mischa during the war, ending with their leader. In the course of it he recovers the memory he had buried, that as a starving child he too was made to consume his sister's remains, a horror that finishes the destruction of his humanity. Inspector Popil, who has long suspected him, is left unable or unwilling to bring him to justice. Lady Murasaki, who loved and guided him and hoped to save him, sees at last what he has become and understands there is nothing left in him she can reach, and she withdraws from his life. Emptied of grief and warmth alike, Hannibal turns away from the ruins of his old life and leaves for a new one abroad, embarking on the medical training that will polish his intellect and his manners. The transformation is complete: the grieving, gifted boy is gone, and in his place stands the cultured, remorseless killer the later books will know.