Jacobs Room is a linear novel concerning the life of Jacob Flanders, a fictional character whose life spans from approximately 1988 to 1914. It is written in the past tense. The novel begins during Jacobs early childhood. Jacobs mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Flanders, takes her three sons to Cornwall, England in the wake of her husbands death. The novel moves ahead to Jacobs time in university. Jacob attends the University of Cambridge, thus residing outside Scarborough for the first time in his life. The novel ends with a scene of Betty Flanders and Richard Bionomy distraughtly clearing out Jacobs London apartment in the wake of Jacobs death.