Symbols My Husband's Wife Alice Feeney

Spyglass House: A Symbol of Buried Secrets and Inescapable Pasts

What Is Spyglass House?

Spyglass House is a sixteenth-century cottage built into the cliffs above Hope Falls, Cornwall. Its most distinctive features are the oversized, eye-shaped windows and white, wavy walls that make it appear as though the house itself is watching the village. Perched alone at the end of an unnamed lane, Spyglass comes with an ancient legal covenant forbidding renovation or removal of its original bookcases—a rule meant to preserve the property’s history. More unusually, the house also carries a historic “covenant against merriment,” a prohibition on joyful noise that hints at generations of suppressed emotion. Hidden behind the bookcase in the library is a secret tunnel that leads to a secluded beach—a passage used by characters to move unseen through the landscape.

Where Spyglass Recurs

The house first appears in Chapter 1 as Eden Fox’s newly renovated home, a symbol of her hope for a fresh start. In Chapters 8 and 10, Birdy inherits Spyglass from a grandmother she never knew, triggering repressed memories of her childhood in Hope Falls. After Eden is locked out by an impostor in Chapter 2, Spyglass becomes the site of an identity crisis and a police investigation. Harrison Woolf crawls through the secret tunnel in Chapter 40, burning his clothes to hide evidence. In Chapters 69 and 70, Birdy is found collapsed in the library, then one year later lives there in remission. Finally, in the novel’s closing pages, Gabriella opens the door of Spyglass wearing Birdy’s clothes, claiming the house as her own.

How Its Meaning Changes

Spyglass begins as a symbol of renewal: Eden sees it as a forever home where her marriage and her self can be restored. When the impostor takes her place at the front door, the house transforms into a symbol of identity theft and gaslighting—the very building that should offer safety becomes the instrument that erases Eden’s existence. For Birdy, Spyglass is initially a mysterious inheritance that forces her to confront a childhood she has blocked out. The familiar smell of her mother’s cooking and the discovery of Christmas cards hidden behind a photograph confirm that her grandmother watched over her from a distance, turning the house into a symbol of abandonment and unacknowledged love. Harrison’s use of the tunnel and his subsequent lie (“I don’t have anything to hide”) makes Spyglass a symbol of guilt and hidden crime. By the epilogue, Birdy lives there in remission, and Gabriella claims it—Spyglass now represents a second chance and the cyclical nature of inheritance, both physical and emotional.

Character Connections

  • Eden Fox: For Eden, Spyglass is the place where her husband and an impostor conspire to steal her identity. The phrase “the key won’t fit” becomes a recurring motif for her lack of agency. Her determination to re-enter the house drives her to steal a police car and run back up the hill.
  • Olivia “Birdy” Bird: Birdy’s inheritance of Spyglass ties her to the village where her mother died and where she was placed in foster care. The house’s hidden letters and the swallow feathers inside Christmas cards reveal that she was loved, deepening the theme of identity and impersonation. Her terminal diagnosis also connects Spyglass to mortality and death prediction, as she lies dying in its library.
  • Harrison Woolf: The CEO of Thanatos uses the tunnel to retrieve his wife’s phone from her body on the beach. The word “LIAR” appearing in the steam on the bathroom mirror after he crawls back through the tunnel encapsulates his guilt and redemption.
  • Sergeant Luke Carter: Carter first searches Spyglass in Chapter 29 and later escapes through the tunnel during the Day of the Dead celebrations. The house becomes a setting where his professional role collides with his personal connections (his sister Maddy, his attraction to Birdy).
  • Lily (the killer): Lily watches Birdy at Spyglass in Chapter 71, intending to kill her but finding her “already dead-looking.” The house represents the threat of justice and revenge that never quite arrives.
  • Gabriella Woolf: In the final scene, Gabriella opens Spyglass’s door dressed in Birdy’s clothes, mirroring the impostor’s first appearance. This cyclical ending suggests that the house will continue to be a site where identities are claimed and contested.

Theme Connections

Spyglass physically embodies the theme of deception and gaslighting: the house that should be a home becomes a stage for a lie. The hidden tunnel literalizes the novel’s interest in buried secrets; characters crawl through darkness to conceal or discover truths. The covenant against merriment—a rule that forbids joy—echoes the suppression of happiness in several characters’ marriages and childhoods. The eye-shaped windows create a sense of being watched, reinforcing the theme of surveillance and paranoia that runs through the plot. Finally, the house’s persistence across generations (from Birdy’s grandmother to Gabriella) speaks to the impossibility of escaping the past: no matter how much characters renovate or lie, Spyglass holds the truth.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. How does the covenant against merriment function as a symbol in the novel?
    The covenant forbids noisy celebration and literally writes joy out of the house’s history. It reflects the emotional silences imposed on characters like Eden, who feels she must suppress her own needs, and Birdy, who spent her life alone. The fact that Harrison later violates the covenant by painting the bookcases shows that the rule cannot contain the destructive energy of the past—like the repressed secrets of the house, the covenant exists to be broken.

  2. What does the hidden tunnel represent for Harrison Woolf?
    The tunnel is a physical route for concealment and guilt. Harrison uses it to retrieve his wife’s phone from the beach after her death; he crawls through dirt, mud, and blood to hide evidence. The tunnel connects his public persona as CEO to his private act of betrayal. The word “LIAR” appearing on the bathroom mirror immediately after he emerges from the tunnel makes clear that the secret passage represents his inability to escape his own deception.

  3. In what way does Birdy’s inheritance of Spyglass force her to confront her childhood?
    The house triggers vivid sensory memories—the smell of her mother’s cooking, the feeling of being back in Hope Falls. The Christmas cards hidden behind a photograph reveal that her grandmother watched over her, contradicting Birdy’s belief that she was abandoned. The inheritance literalizes the “unfinished story” she feels about her past, pushing her to face both the loss of her mother and the love she never acknowledged.

  4. How do the “eye” windows of Spyglass relate to the theme of truth and surveillance?
    The house’s huge windowpanes suggest that Spyglass itself sees everything, including the secrets of the village below. Characters frequently feel watched—Eden notes that Harrison seems to know more than he admits, and Birdy senses danger when she enters. The windows create a visual parallel to the novel’s structure, where multiple characters are both observers and observed, and where the truth is always visible to someone, no matter how carefully it is hidden.