Content Warning: The novel contains descriptions of emotional and domestic abuse, anti-LGBTQ+ bias, and references to suicide.

“If you want to have this baby, we have to do this. We’ll move into the house. We’ll figure things out.”

Nathan’s statement to Emma is an example of his manipulative nature. Sensing that Emma’s pregnancy is important to her, he uses it as leverage to get her to move to her childhood house. This seemingly innocuous statement establishes the couple’s troubling dynamic early, setting up the theme of The Domestic as a Dangerous Space.

“Emma’s breath caught in her throat. Home, she thought, and wished it didn’t feel true.”

Emma is both drawn to and repelled by her childhood home, as this observation illustrates. Emma’s mixed response shows that she has not yet confronted or made peace with her past. In this sense, home represents Emma’s childhood and her rebellious teenage self.

“Beyond was a long drive leading to a circular driveway, an empty fountain in the center, and rolling lawns to either side, with sparse woods beyond the house.”

The Palmer mansion is the novel’s main setting and integral to its central mystery. Author Kate Alice Marshall describes the house and its grounds detail to convey a sense of both majesty and foreboding. The large but ominous home is a classic setting in mystery and psychological horror novels, as well as Gothic fiction.