Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

As the sun dips below the horizon, Margot leaves her old bedroom, feeling the weight of the house pressing on her. She deliberately avoids the master bedroom, choosing instead to turn right down an unfamiliar hallway. Her gamble pays off when she discovers a second staircase leading to the ground floor. Following it, she finds herself in a straight hallway that ends at a large outside door—and there, propped against the wall, are her two travel cases. She has walked a long loop and returned to the spot where she first entered the house.

Margot retreats to the kitchen, where she eats a cold breakfast burger and two granola bars, the only food she has. The meal is unappetizing, but she is hungry enough to enjoy it. As she eats, she thinks back to the distorted reflection she saw in the master bedroom mirror earlier. Already the image has faded in her mind, becoming almost cartoonish. She remembers the terror she felt, but the reaction now seems overblown. She recalls her roommate's observation that the human brain rationalizes and diminishes things it doesn't fully understand. She is grateful for this fading, because she needs to sleep in the house that night.

After cleaning up, Margot carries her luggage up to her old bedroom. She decides not to explore the other closed doors at night, feeling that searching the aging house in the dark would be tempting an unpleasant fate. The room feels too large and too empty, and she thinks about how her parents must have lived there alone, bouncing through a few familiar rooms while countless others remained sealed and forgotten.

From the window, she sees distant lights that must be the town. She reminds herself that people do live nearby, but the lights seem miles away. She also remembers the cluster of worker accommodations farther down the hill, where ten employees, including Kant, are waiting for her decision about the winery. Margot reflects on her unexpected inheritance. She knows nothing about wine, and she worries that she might ruin the business her parents spent their lives building. She considers selling, but there is no guarantee a new owner would do better. She also thinks about her own life back home: a dead-end sales job, an apartment she will soon have to leave, and no family left except the memory of her nana.

Margot decides to give the winery a four-week trial. If she truly hates it after that, she will sell. She feels ungrateful for even considering selling, but she also recognizes that an unasked-for gift can become a burden. She resolves to try, for her parents and for the employees who depend on the business.

She begins unpacking. Her life fits neatly into two suitcases: clothes, toiletries, a few novels, and a spare pair of sneakers. Her phone holds her most valuable possessions—photos with her nana, a calendar, and contacts. As she hangs her clothes, she notices the open padlock on the window. The shackle is open, the key still in place. She considers locking it but wonders what she would be locking against, and why only this room has a lock. She lets it drop.

While hanging her funeral dress, Margot catches her reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door. White lines run across her torso like rivers, scars that have faded but will never fully vanish. She remembers examining them as a child, showing them off to classmates. Her nana once explained that Margot had been attacked by a dog when she was very little, but there was a lack of conviction in the explanation that left Margot doubting it. She thinks about the dog door in the house and feels that pieces of a puzzle don't fit together. She has never been afraid of dogs.

Margot changes into flannel pajamas, turns out the light, and crawls into bed. She lies awake for a long time, chilled and uneasy. When she finally sleeps, her dreams are queasy and upsetting, full of memories from that morning—approaching the caskets of Hugh and Maria Hull.

Key Events

Margot avoids the master bedroom and discovers a second staircase, which leads her back to her travel cases near an outside door.
She eats a cold breakfast burger and granola bars in the kitchen, reflecting on the fading memory of the distorted mirror image.
She carries her luggage to her old bedroom and decides not to explore the house at night.
From the window, she sees distant town lights and thinks about the ten employees, including Kant, waiting for her decision.
She reflects on her life back home and decides to give the winery a four-week trial before considering selling.
While unpacking, she notices the open padlock on her window and wonders why only that room has one.
She sees the scars across her torso and recalls her nana's uncertain explanation about a dog attack.
She goes to bed and dreams of approaching the caskets of Hugh and Maria Hull.

Character Development

This chapter deepens Margot's internal conflict. She is not simply a reluctant heir; she is someone who feels the weight of responsibility deeply. Her decision to give the winery a four-week trial shows a pragmatic side, but it is also rooted in guilt and a desire to honor parents she barely knew. She acknowledges that the business could fail under her care, and she fears being responsible for that failure.

Margot's isolation is emphasized throughout. She is alone in a vast house, with only distant town lights and the worker accommodations for company. Her life back home is equally sparse—a job with no future, an apartment she will soon lose, and a phone full of contacts she hasn't spoken to in years. This sense of being untethered makes her decision to stay feel both risky and necessary.

The scars on her torso add a layer of mystery. She has always treated them as unremarkable, but her nana's hesitant explanation leaves room for doubt. Margot's connection of the scars to the dog door in the house suggests that she is beginning to question the story she has been told. Her lack of fear of dogs, despite the supposed attack, hints that the truth may be more complicated.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Inheritance burden: Margot sees the winery as both a gift and a weight. She feels ungrateful for considering selling, but she also recognizes that an unasked-for gift can become a burden.
Isolation: The house is too large and too empty, and Margot is alone in it. The distant town lights and the worker accommodations are reminders of other people, but they feel far away.
Rationalizing fear: Margot's memory of the mirror image fades, and she consciously uses her roommate's observation about the brain rationalizing the unknown to calm herself. This shows her trying to manage her fear rather than confront it.
Padlocked window: The open padlock on her window is a mystery. Margot wonders what it is meant to keep out, and why only that room has one. It symbolizes the house's sealed secrets and Margot's own unresolved past.
Scars and hidden past: The scars on Margot's torso are physical evidence of something she doesn't fully understand. Her nana's explanation feels incomplete, and the scars connect to the dog door, suggesting a deeper mystery.
Keep-or-sell decision: Margot's four-week trial is a central decision point. It reflects her sense of duty, her fear of failure, and her hope that she might be enough.
Grief and guilt: Margot's thoughts about her parents and her nana are tinged with grief. She also feels guilt for not being raised at Gallows Hill, wondering if she would have been better prepared if she had been kept.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 9 is a turning point for Margot's commitment to the estate. She makes a concrete decision to stay for four weeks, which sets up the rest of the novel's plot. It also deepens the mystery surrounding the house and Margot's own history. The open padlock, the scars, and the dog door are all pieces of a puzzle that Margot is only beginning to notice. The chapter reinforces the themes of isolation and hidden secrets, and it ends with a dream that directly connects Margot to the deaths of Hugh and Maria Hull, suggesting that her past and the house's past are intertwined.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Margot decide to give the winery a four-week trial instead of selling it immediately?

Margot decides on a four-week trial because she feels a sense of duty to her parents, who left her the business, and to the ten employees who depend on it. She also has little waiting for her back home—a dead-end job and an apartment she will soon lose. She hopes that four weeks will be enough time to know whether she can handle the business, and if she truly hates it, she will sell.

What does the open padlock on the window reveal about Margot's state of mind?

The open padlock makes Margot uneasy. She considers locking it but then wonders what she would be locking against, and why only that room has a lock. This moment shows her rationalizing her fear while also acknowledging that the house holds secrets she doesn't understand. It also hints that the room may have been used to keep something out—or in.

How do the scars on Margot's torso connect to the larger mystery of the house?

The scars are physical evidence of an event Margot doesn't remember. Her nana's explanation about a dog attack lacks conviction, and Margot notes that the house has a dog door. She has never been afraid of dogs, which makes the story even less believable. The scars, like the padlock and the sealed rooms, suggest that Margot's past and the house's history are linked in ways she has yet to uncover.