The Likeness

“Some nights, if I’m sleeping on my own, I still dream about Whitethorn House” (1). Author Tana French begins her crime novel with a nod to another novel haunted by a home. In Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, the narrator speaks of a house that bedevils her memory, constantly reminding her of the past. On the day of her arrival, Cassie is greeted with a charming edifice welcoming her into a new life. Her first days living there feel like a lucid dream where she finds her family for the first time. “That house shimmered in my mind like some fairy fort that appeared for one day in a lifetime, tantalizing and charged, with those four cool figures for guardians and inside secrets too hazy to be named” (46). For Cassie, the mansion represents an escape from the painful isolation she has inhabited since her traumatic experience. To the group of friends, the dwelling is an emblem of independence and a place to escape the drudgery of society.

Whitethorn House is alive with music, voices, philosophy, and food, and Cassie is taken captive under its spell. However, below the surface of its crumbling walls lie dark secrets, and as the house begins to reveal its history, the residents also begin to surrender their hidden selves.