The Novelist and the Auto Memories Doll (小説家と自動手記人形, Shōsetsuka to Ōto Memorīzu Dōru?) is the first chapter of Violet Evergarden Volume 1.
Summary[]
The chapter begins with a short definition of Auto Memories Dolls, which were machines created by Dr. Orland for his blind wife Molly, to help her write. The machines are now widely manufactured and can be rented out.
Oscar is a scriptwriter who lives alone in a small house on the outskirts of Roswell. He once had a wife and daughter, but they both died from the same illness one after the other. Oscar lived a reclusive life in mourning for years afterward until a friend approached him to ask him to write a new play. However, because of his previous alcoholism, his hands shake whenever he writes, so his friend offered to hire an Auto Memories Doll for him to help him with writing.
A few days later, the Auto Memories Doll Violet Evergarden arrives. She is on loan to him for two weeks. Under the impression that she is a mechanical doll, Oscar is impressed by her speed in typing and her pleasant reading voice. The two work efficiently for a few days until Oscar gets writer's block for a certain scene. During these few days living with Violet, Oscar realizes that he has been living a lonely life for all this time.
Violet "walking" on the lake surface
After three days, Oscar finally gets a breakthrough on the scene he is stuck on. He asks Violet to model the play's heroine by dressing up in a costume and walking by the lake. In the play, the heroine fulfills her promise to her elderly father of walking on the fallen leaves floating on the lake. Hearing that, Violet decides to act out that scene in reality by running at a rapid speed and using the parasol Oscar bought for her. Oscar breaks down into tears as he watches her, thinking about how his daughter might have grown up to look like Violet and recalling how she had made a similar promise to him mere hours before she died. He is faced with the fact that he alone must live on.
Afterwards, Violet takes a bath to clean up from getting soaked in the lake. Oscar, still unused to having to knock before he enters, walks in on her bath and finally realizes that Violet is human.
Later, Oscar learns from his friend that Violet is actually famous within the Auto Memories Doll world. His friend gifts him a mechanical typing doll, but Oscar feels that it's no match for Violet.
Characters[]
- Dr. Orland (mentioned)
- Molly (mentioned)
- Oscar
- Oscar's wife (mentioned)
- Oscar's daughter (mentioned)
- Oscar's wife's friend (mentioned)
- Oscar's friend (mentioned)
- Violet Evergarden
Trivia[]
- This chapter is adapted in Episode 7 of the anime.
- The scene where Oscar walks in on Violet's bath is depicted in the endcard of the episode.