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Table of Contents for The Spoiler Discussion of the Only One Left
Spoiler Free Character List
Plot Summary
What Was the Ending of The Only One Left?
Character List With Spoilers
Spoiler Free Character List for The Only One Left by Riley Sager
If you are using this as you read, you should stick to the spoiler free character list!
Characters in the Present (Spoiler Free List)
Kittredge “Kit” McDeere: age 31; home health care worker
Lenora Hope: age 71, suspected of the murders of her parents and younger sister Virginia on Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929.
Mrs. Baker: the housekeeper, age 73 (formerly Miss Baker below)
Carter: the gardener
Archibald: the cook
Jessica: the housecleaner
Mary: the former health aide; worked for one year and then vanished.
Mr. Gurlain: owner of health aide employment agency
Detective Vick: local police officer who investigates both Kit’s mother’s overdose and Mary’s disappearance.
Kenny: Kit’s sometime hook-up
Characters in 1929 (Spoiler Free)
Winston Hope: Lenora’s father
Evangeline Hope: Lenora’s mother
Virginia Hope: Lenora’s sister
Ricardo Mayhew: the groundskeeper
Tony: former groundskeeper (after Ricardo disappeared)
Berniece Mayhew: the kitchen maid, married to Ricardo
Miss Baker: tutor to the Hope sisters
Peter Ward: artist hired by Winston Hope to paint portraits of his family
Plot Summary for The Only One Left by Riley Sager
The Only One Left alternates between journal entries (presumably typed by accused killer Lenora Hope, though she suggests some of the typing was done by the ghost of her sister, Virginia) and the first-person narration of Kit McDeere, Lenora’s new caregiver.
Opening Journal Entry:
The writer remembers stepping onto the terrace wearing her nightgown, holding a knife in her bloody hands. Inside, her sister screams. The narrator throws the knife over the railing into the ocean. Then she goes to get some rope.
Kit’s Narration, 1982
Kit McDeere is trying to get a new home health aide job after a six month suspension. The agency has a new job for her: taking care of a stroke patient who requires constant, live-in care. The patient is Lenora Hope, suspected murderer of her family back in 1929. Kit is reluctant to take the job, but agrees.
At Hope’s End, the Hope mansion, Kit meets Carter, the groundskeeper, Mrs. Baker, the forbidding elderly housekeeper, and Jessica, the housemaid.
The mansion features portrait of Lenora as a young girl with green eyes. Next to that are three more portraits covered in black fabric. Kit learns that Mary, Lenora’s former health aide, left suddenly. Mrs. Baker asks Kit about Kit’s last client, who died.
Mrs. Baker tells Kit that Lenora never leaves the house and that the house and the cliff it is on are both eroding.
Kit meets Lenora, asleep in a wheelchair. She is frail, with green eyes, just like the ones in her portrait.
Kit asks about a 1960s typewriter on the desk, and Mrs. Baker says that Mary brought that and hoped to teach Lenora to use it. Lenora just communicates by tapping her left hand, once for no, twice for yes.
After Mrs. Baker leaves, Kit asks Lenora if she is able to type, and Lenora taps twice for yes. Then she types a short hello to Kit.
As Kit gets Lenora ready for bed, she tells her that the have something in common: people also think Kit killed her mother, who was the patient Kit was caring for. She left out her mother’s pain medication, and her mother overdosed.
Jessica drops by to give Kit the mansion “murder tour.” She shows Kit bloodstains on the steps that she says were from Evangeline trying to escape her killer. Then she takes Kit into the billiards room, where Winston died, slumped over the pool table. Jessica says that Mary was obsessed with the murders, then shows her the urns where the remains of Winston, Evangeline and Virginia are stored. They try to contact the dead with Jessie’s ouija board.
Jessica’s Theory of the Murders
Jessica’s theory is that Winston lost his fortune and killed his family, then himself. She then takes Kit to the ballroom, where Virginia died. Jessica also makes cassette recordings of popular 1980s fiction for Lenora to listen to on a Walkman.
Kit asks Lenora if she wants to type. She types a message to Kit, saying she wants to tell her everything. Kit finds that Mary, the former caregiver, has left all her belongings behind in her former room, now Kit’s room.
Journal Entries
In various journal entries, we learn that Lenora and Virginia’s father hire an artist named Peter to paint the family’s portraits. Also that Winston Hope cheats on his wife with a servant.
Kit’s Narration
Kit hears someone walking around in Lenora’s room but checks and finds no one.
Jen’s Theory: Lenora is faking her condition.
Kit chats with Archie, the cook. He tells her he has been working at Hope’s End since 1922 and that he and Mrs. Baker are the only original employees, but that Miss Baker (now Mrs. Baker) left the morning of the “incident.” Kit recalls that Mrs. Baker said she left after the murders.
Lenora types something which appears to be the first journal entry. Kit says she now knows what happened to the knife: it was thrown into the ocean.
Kit hides the typed pages in Lenora’s pill lockbox, under the bed. She hears a shingle fall off the roof and goes to the terrace, which has an exit from her room and wraps all around the house. While out there, she sees what she thinks is someone in Lenora’s room, finds a strange metal ring, and almost falls over the railing, dropping the piece of metal.
Carter’s Theory of the Murders
Carter comes to Kit’s rescue and presents a new suspect: Ricardo Mayhew. Ricardo and his wife Berniece, a housemaid, lived in a cottage on the property. Berniece was at the movies on the night of the Hope murders, but Ricardo was there that night. After that, he vanished. Berniece still lives in town.
Kit asks if Lenora knows what happened to Ricardo, and she says no. Then she asks if Ricky did it, and Lenora says Kit has to wait and hear the whole story, in order.
Kit reads the journal pages and sees that eight months before the murder, Lenora fell in love with Ricky.
Kit wakes from a nightmare and thinks she hears someone moving in Lenora’s room. The next morning, she thinks that someone has taken the page from the typewriter. Kit asks Lenora who was in the room, and is told “Virginia.”
Kit calls Mr. Gurlain to ask for a new assignment. He tells her there isn’t another one. She goes out to the terrace and sees a body on the beach: Mary.
Detective Vick comes to investigate. Kit asks whether Mary fell, and he suggests she jumped, due to a note in her pocket.
Detective Vick says he used to work at Hope’s End back in 1929. Lenora answers some of his questions by tapping. Kit suggests that Leonora type her answers. When the detective asks Lenora if she can type, she taps once for no.
After Vick leaves, Lenora types an apology and says the typing has to be a secret. Lenora says that Mary was nervous, that she also heard strange noises, and that she was afraid of Virginia.
Journal Entry
Ricky and the narrator fall in love. She thinks she is keeping it a secret but her sister guesses that she’s in love with Archie.
Kit’s Narration
Kit goes to Jessie’s room on the third floor. Jessie says Mary got scared a few weeks back. Kit notices a Polaroid picture in Jessie’s room of Lenora typing. She tells Kit that Mary saw the Polaroid and swore Jessie to silence.
Kit asks Lenora, who says she typed out everything for Mary and finished the night Mary disappeared. Kit asks where the pages are and is told that Mary hid them in her room, which is now Kit’s. Kit searches the entire room and finds nothing but a strange rectangular patch of floor that is free of dust.
She thinks the patch is the size of the suitcase.
Kit checks her own suitcase and sees that it has metal rings, like the one that Kit found on the terraces. She calls Detective Vick and says that she thinks Mary was pushed.
Detective Vick calls Kit’s theory “outlandish” and tells her that Mary’s injuries were consistent with a fall.In addition, she had no defensive wounds, and a note in her pocket that said, I’m sorry. I’m not the person you think I am.”
Kit asks Vick about Ricardo Mayhew as a suspect in the Hope family case.
Carter shows up and tells Kit he overheard her conversation and knows what Mary was doing. He says that a guy named Tony who used to work at Hope’s End told him to take the job. Tony had been looking around the servants’ rooms above the garage and found a photo. A photo of a girl who looks just like the one in Lenora’s portrait. She’s pregnant.
Journal Entry
The narrator says that yes, she got pregnant. Ricky, despite being married, was happy about it. She recalls hearing her father on the phone about some missing money. Virginia and Lenora have trusts.
Carter Reveals More of His Theory
Carter tells Kit he thinks he could be Lenora’s grandson. He says that in December 1929, a baby was abandoned at the town church. He also thinks that was Ricardo’s motive: that Lenora’s family didn’t approve of him. Kit asks if he talked to Mrs. Baker or Archie about it, and he says no.
Carter explains that Mary was helping him get a DNA test by drawing blood from Lenora. She’d promised to get the sample, and then disappeared. He thinks whoever pushed Mary had a financial motive.
After more pieces of the house crumble, Carter moves into the main house Kit puts Lenora in front of the typewriter. Kit tells Lenora that she knows about the baby and asks if Mary knew. Lenora says yes and will only say that the baby is “gone.”
Archie brings dinner and says that he and Lenora were best friends, but that he wasn’t close to Virginia. Kit puts on an audiobook for Lenora and asks Archie if Lenora had a baby. He says Lenora was never pregnant and that she should stop digging into the past.
Journal Entry
Archie wants to know the plan about the pregnancy. He mentions a doctor who can help a woman who doesn’t want a baby. One of the maids told him about this, a maid impregnated by Winston.
Kit’s Narration
Kit reports to Carter: Lenora said the baby was “gone.” Archie said Lenora was never pregnant.
Kit is shocked to see that Lenora was able to turn off the Walkman with her right hand. Kit wonders if Lenora is faking her condition. A crowd has gathered outside and Mrs. Baker threatens them with a shotgun.
Kit has another nightmare. She checks on Lenora and finds a page in the typewriter with “it’s all your fault” typed over and over. Lenora says it was written by her sister Virginia.
Kit confronts everyone: Carter, Jessie, Mrs. Baker, Archie, and asks who typed the words. They all deny it. Kit tells them that she had heard someone in Lenora’s room.
Kit and Jessie discuss whether Lenora could be faking. Jessie thinks Kit is acting like Mary before she vanished.
Back in Lenora’s room, Kit tests her by putting the snow globe, a gift from Lenora’s mother, in her right hand, but she lets it fall to the floor and shatter.
Journal Entry
Virginia and Lenora hear their father tell their mother he intends to spend the girls’ money to get by. Their parents talk about his cheating and the fact that he’s not Lenora’s father. The girls don’t look alike.
The narrator goes to talk to her mother, who admits that she’s not Lenora’s mother. Then she overdoses on laudanum.
Lenora is mad about the snow globe. Kit asks how she can make it up to her, and Lenora types “outside.” Kit refuses but Leonora says she will explain what happened to the baby, so Kit starts to get her ready.
During Mary’s funeral, Kit sneaks Lenora outside in her wheelchair.
Kit starts asking Lenora about the baby. Lenora, by tapping, tells her the baby was a boy and was taken away. Kit asks if Mary knew about the baby and who killed the Hopes and Lenora says yes. Kit asks if Lenora will tell her who was responsible and she says no. Kit goes and gets the typewriter but all the other staff gets home from the funeral.
A furious Mrs. Baker takes the typewriter away. Kit tells Carter that Lenora told her that the baby was taken away.
Inside, Kit opens the lockbox to get the papers that Lenora typed, but they are gone.
She confronts Mrs. Baker, who claims that she is only protecting Lenora from the judgement of the world. Mrs. Baker says Kit should know something about judgmental people, given what happened to her mother. She says she thought Lenora and Kit would have that in common.
Mrs. Baker says that if the house is still standing when Lenora dies, Mrs. Baker will inherit it.
Journal Entry
The narrator can’t hide her pregnancy anymore and seeks help from Miss Baker, who says that her relationship with Winston Hope is strictly transactional. The narrator wants help getting maternity clothes and more food. If Miss Baker doesn’t help, she will tell everyone about Miss Baker’s affair with Winston and she will have to be fired.
Kit’s Narration
Kit imagines Mrs. Baker killing Mary as she fled with the suitcase and vial of Carter’s blood. She sneaks inside Mrs. Baker’s room and finds a photo of a young version of Lenora in Paris with a tall, handsome man. She also finds monthly bills for the Ocean View retirement home.
A drunk Mrs. Baker returns to her room and Kit hides in a closet. When a piece of the house falls off, Kit has the chance to escape and check on Lenora. Archie is in Lenora’s room and says he was telling her goodnight. Kit questions this as he said he and Lenora weren’t close growing up.
Kit asks Archie if he believes Lenora’s sister comes into the room to type, and he says there are things she’s better off not knowing.
In the morning, the terrace now has a huge crack. Kit asks if Carter knows who Mrs. Baker might be supporting at Ocean View. He says Berniece Mayhew.
Kit borrows Jessie’s ouija board and Jessie says Kit can have it, as she’s leaving.
Kit asks Lenora about Berniece and she says “nasty.” Lenora suggests that Mrs. Baker has been paying Berniece because she was there that night and knows what happened.
Journal Entry
The narrator is so pregnant that she has to feign illness and stay in bed. Ricky stopped coming to visit her. Miss Baker agrees to ask Ricky to meet the journal writer on the terrace at midnight, but Berniece shows up instead. Berniece tells her that she’s not the first girl Ricky got pregnant and asks for blackmail money. Berniece leaves and Ricky, who has been hiding in the shadows, shows up. He says they will run away together.
Kit’s Narration
Kit goes to Ocean View to see Berniece Mayhew, claiming to be a nurse from her insurance company. Berniece says she won’t talk until Kit tells her about Mary.
Berniece says Ricky had a wandering eye, and all Lenora had to do was bat her big blue eyes at him.
Wait …. WHAT????
Berniece says she told the staff she was going to see a movie, then waited for Ricky to show up at Hope’s End. She planned to catch Ricky with his pregnant girlfriend and tell Winston Hope. But Leonora came running into the room with bloody hands. Then there was a scream. Lenora grabbed a knife and told Berniece to get out.
Berniece says she did leave, but thinks that Leonora manipulated Ricky into helping her commit the murders, and that afterwards, Lenora killed Ricky by shoving him off the terrace.
After the murders, Lenora sent Archie to fire everyone. Archie offered Berniece a $1000 blackmail check and she said she needed that much every month.
Detective Vick shows up, and Kit tells him that Berniece lied to the police in 1929. He tells her to go home to her father.
Vick tells Kit that there was a call to the police the night of the Hope murders. Lenora called, saying two people were dead.
Kit assumes that Lenora killed her parents, then Virginia, then Ricky. But Vick tells her that Virginia survived for six months. And that the police couldn’t prove that Lenora or Ricky did it.
Kit also tells him Mary was murdered, and he shows her the suicide note. Suddenly, she figures it out.
Kit Solves the Mystery!
Back at the house, Kit stares at the painting of Lenora. Yes, this is the woman Kit cares for. Then she starts tearing the fabric off the other paintings: Winston, Evangeline, and Virginia. Virginia has blue eyes, just like Berniece described Lenora.
She looks in the urns and one is empty.
Journal Entry
Ricky and the narrator have a plan. He will sneak into the Hope’s End garage and steal a car, she’ll slip out with a suitcase. But her sister stands in the doorway and asks if she’s running away. And sees that she’s pregnant.
They argue. The sister locks the narrator in her room.
The narrator is not Lenora. It is … Virginia.
Kit’s Narration
Kit goes downstairs where Mrs. Baker asks about Miss Hope.
Kit says yes, Virginia is fine.
Then Kit tells Mrs. Baker she knows what Mary’s suicide note says : I am not the person you think I am. She accuses Mrs. Baker (Lenora) of pushing Mary off the terrace.
Mrs. Baker admits that she’s been hiding her true identity as Lenora for fifty-four years. She claims that night, she found her mother dead and started screaming, then found her father. She called the police and then found her sister Virginia, hanging in the ballroom.
Bur Virginia was alive. Lenora said everyone suspected her of the murders. So she bribed the doctor to declare Virginia dead. She started calling Virgina by a new name: Lenora.
Journal Entry
Virginia says she woke up, unable to move, and that one day her sister came in and said she (Virginia) was now Lenora. Then the real Lenora left.
Kit’s Narration
Lenora left for Paris. After a while, she came back and assumed Miss Baker’s identity. Only Archie knew the truth.
Lenora also insists that Virginia killed their parents and the real Miss Baker. Then she hung herself.
Journal Entry
Virginia has the baby, helped by Lenora and Miss Baker. Winston told Lenora to take the baby
Kit’s Narration
Lenora says that Miss Baker went to Canada with Virginia and Ricky’s baby. Kit is momentarily confused when Archie says that HE was the one having the affair with Ricardo.
WHAT?!?!?
Ricardo wasn’t “Ricky,” the one that Virginia had the affair with. They are two different people.
Both Archie and Lenora insist that only Virginia could have been the one responsible for the 1929 crimes.
Journal Entry
Virginia got out of bed and grabbed the knife that had been used to cut the baby’s umbilical cord. She went downstairs to the billiard room.
Kit’s Narration
Lenora tells Kit that she ran to get her mother. That she doesn’t think Virginia intended to harm her.
Kit goes and tells Virginia that she understands why she committed the crimes. She calls her father and says she’s coming home.
Kit recalls her mother begging her to leave the pill bottle, and relenting.
Carter comes as Kit is leaving (a corkscrew in her pocket) and she tells him to get in her car and she’ll fill him in.
Carter can’t believe that Mrs. Baker is Lenora, and Lenora is Virginia. They discuss what could have happened to Mary. Could it have been Archie or Lenora?
Kit asks Carter what day of the week Mary disappeared. Carter says Monday. Kit wonders to herself if Mary was coming back from the lab with the results, and if Carter killed her. He denies it. She threatens him with the corkscrew and he gets out of the car.
What Was the Ending of The Only One Left by Riley Sager?
When Kit arrives home, the house is empty. She sees a suitcase in her father’s bedroom, opens it, and finds Mary’s typed pages.
Kit’s father’s name is Patrick. He is “Ricky,” the lover of Virginia and father of her baby.
Journal Entry
With Ricky at her side, Virginia confronts Winston Hope, asking him where their baby is. But Winston has bribed Ricky to leave and not come back. Virginia runs at her father with the knife, but her mother Evangeline stops her.
Her parents argue about Lenora’s real father, a man that Winston also bribed to go away. Distraught at all her husband has done to separate her and Virginia from those they love, Evangeline stabs Winston, then herself.
Evangeline is injured and asks Ricky to finish the job, which he does. Virginia screams for help, Lenora calls the police, then Virginia attempts to take her own life.
Kit’s Narration
After reading these final pages, Kit drives back to Hope’s End. Archie tells her a man is there, and Kit gives him her keys and asks him to get the police.
Kit tells Virginia that Ricky is coming and tries to lift her into her wheelchair. But Ricky is already there, so they hide in a closet.
Ricky finds Virginia and says he’s shocked she is alive. He says he killed Mary because she knew too much. Ricky tries to choke Virginia but she grabs the corkscrew, which Kit had set on the nightstand, and stabs him.
Kit realizes that her father was the one who gave her mother the pills. Her father says that her mother took the pills willingly. Kit isn’t sure what to believe but it furious that her father let her be blamed.
Lenora comes in with a shotgun. Patrick introduces himself and then when Lenora and Kit are talking, shoves Lenora. The gun fires, hitting the wall, and the entire house starts to shake.
Kit runs upstairs to get Virginia. Lenora refuses to leave the house. Kit’s father helps Kit get Virginia to safety and then goes back for Lenora, but the whole house collapses.
Epilogue
Virginia is living with Kit. Archie lives nearby and stops in sometimes. Jessie has vanished and Carter is still mad.
But one day, Virginia is gone. She leaves Kit a note.
Journal Entry
Virginia faked her condition because she was so depressed at all she had lost.
Jessie is Virginia’s granddaughter, the daughter of her son with Ricky. Miss Baker raised Virginia’s baby, who was named Marcel.
Jessie found Virginia and got a job at Hope’s End. She would come into Virginia’s room at night and left her secret messages on the walkman tapes.
Jessie came to Kit’s to pick up Virigina and take her.
Virginia invites Archie and Kit to meet them in Paris.
Character List With Spoilers
WARNING: Spoilers ahead!
Characters in the Present (Who is Everyone, REALLY?)
Kittredge “Kit” McDeere: age 31; home health care worker. Daughter of Patrick McDeere, aunt of Jessie.
Patrick “Ricky” McDeere: lover of Virginia Hope, father of Marcel and Kit. Grandfather of Jessie.
Lenora Hope: age 71, suspected of the murders of her parents and younger sister Virginia on Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929. Is actually Virginia Hope.
Mrs. Baker: the housekeeper. Supposed to be an aged-up Miss Baker. Is actually Lenora Hope.
Carter: the gardener
Archibald/Archie: the cook. Is the former secret lover of Ricardo Mayhew, the groundskeeper.
Jessica/ “Jessie”: the housecleaner. Is also Virginia’s secret granddaughter and Kit’s niece.
Marcel: the secret baby of Virginia and Ricky. He was raised by the real Miss Baker in Canada and is the father of Jessie.
Mary: the former health aide; worked for one year and then was killed by Lenora/Mrs. Baker.
Mr. Gurlain: owner of health aide employment agency
Detective Vick: local police officer who investigates both Kit’s mother’s overdose and Mary’s disappearance.
Kenny: Kit’s sometime hook-up; is ten years younger
Characters from the Journal Entries
Winston Hope: Lenora’s father
Evangeline Hope: Lenora’s mother
Virginia Hope: Lenora’s sister; now known as Lenora
Ricardo Mayhew: the groundkeeper. Killed by Lenora, who pushed him off the terrace.
Ricky: we think he’s Ricardo, but he is a seasonal worker who in the 1920s who is actually Patrick McDeere, Kit’s father. He is the lover of Virginia and the grandfather of Jessie.
Tony: former groundskeeper (after Ricardo disappeared)
Berniece Mayhew: the kitchen maid, formerly married to Ricardo; now in a nursing home
Miss Baker: tutor to the Hope sisters; raised Virginia’s secret baby
Peter Ward: artist hired by Winston Hope to paint portraits of his family
Spoiler Discussion for The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Whew. I tried to keep that short but … not so much.
Who Killed Whom in The Only One Left?
There was a lot of murdery stuff going on, so here’s the lowdown:
Who Killed Mary in The Only One Left?
Kit first suspected Mrs. Baker and then Carter. But Kit’s father Patrick “Ricky” killed Mary (in the present) because she did a DNA test on “Lenora,” actually Virginia. His motive isn’t the clearest to me, but I guess if the DNA test showed “Lenora’s” true identity, the dominos would start to fall and Patrick would be exposed as Ricky.
Who Killed the real Lenora in The Only One Left?
Ricky tries to strangle Lenora, but in the end the house killed her. I kind of love that!
Who Killed Winston and Evangeline in The Only One Left?
Evangeline stabbed Winston and then took her own life.
What are your questions? Did you figure out that Mrs. Baker was Lenora?
These were the things I suspected:
- “Lenora” was faking her condition, at least somewhat
- Mrs. Baker had to be someone, probably one of the sisters, because she was the same age. At first I thought she had to be Virginia.
My questions:
The book doesn’t really acknowledge that Kit and Jessie are related. Because Jessie is the daughter of Kit’s half-brother Marcel, Jessie is her niece.
Kit’s father is a bit of a villain. He takes a bribe to leave Virginia, lets his baby be snatched, and kills poor Mary. Why does he help save Virginia? Does he still have feelings for her and if so, why hide his identity and kill Mary to protect his secret.
Your Questions:
Cat asked some great ones, which you are free to check out and answer in comments.
She wanted to know why, if Detective Vick has been around since the 1920s and was part of the investigation into the murders of Winston and Evangeline, he didn’t realize that Virginia and Lenora swapped places.
She also wonders why Vick didn’t realize that “Ricky” was Kit’s dad, since he also investigated the death of Kit’s mom.
I don’t have a great answer. Vick and Kit discuss the case in chapter 35, before Kit figures everything out.
When Vick arrives at the mansion in 1929, he finds Winston and Evangeline dead, and Virginia gravely injured. Maybe Vick didn’t notice their eye colors and realize that the sisters had swapped places later? I agree that this could use more explanation.
As for Ricky, he was the groundskeeper and it’s also possible that Vick didn’t meet him, as he was more focused on Ricardo Mayhew as a suspect because he had vanished and stolen one of the Hope family cars.
If you loved this post, please check out my other spoiler posts here!
My question was: in Lenora’s typed story (which was really Virginia’s), she stated that she felt stunned to find out that her father wasn’t really her bio dad. But since she isn’t Lenora why would she include that in the story in that way? Also, you’re right it made no sense that the dad went there to silence Virginia, but just ended up saving her instead. I feel like that’s a little too much of an about-face after hiding the truth for so many years.
They did acknowledge that Jessie is Kit’s niece in the final letter from V to Kit. She says that since she’s her niece, Kit should spend some time alone with her too.
I still can’t believe this woman pretended to be mute and paralyzed for 50 years. That’s just ridiculous for the author to try to get people to believe. She just rotted away in a wheelchair never speaking to anyone just cause she was sad? Crapping her pants and having someone bathe her and what- change her feminine hygiene products for her— while letting her sister steal her identity? But then one day on a whim deciding to up and leave and be normal to spend time with her granddaughter?? Why not get up and run when the freaking house was falling in? Also, that house collapsed comically slow. Like come on, if a house is gonna fall off a cliff, it’s just going to fall— not wait slowly dropping shingles until everyone who needs to be safely out gets out.
lolol I love this reaction. I agree that pretending to be paralyzed for 50 years is quite the commitment. Did you read Verity???
Oh yes, I read Verity. At least her fake-out was only for like a year. I don’t think she would’ve kept that up for the long haul.
Ha – that’s a great point. I don’t think I’d last a week!
If you re-read this part carefully, you can see that the narrator (which we now know was virginia) was upset by the news but never specifically stated that she (Virginia) had just found out she wasn’t her father’s daugther. When Virginia goes back into her mother’s room, she just asks if ‘it’s true’ and the mother says yes. Lenora had somehow already known she wasn’t her father’s daughter so she’s not upset in this scene and sneers at Virginia who is upset, not to find out about her parentage, but because she discovers that her parents were never in love and were both unfaithful to each other.
You have Jessie as kit’s niece. wouldn’t Jessie be her half sister? Since kit’s father Patrick is the one who got Virginia pregnant?
Hi Kally!
Let’s figure this out. I am not the best at genealogy. Patrick is Jessie’s grandfather but also Kit’s father, but with different women, so maybe Kit and Jessie are both half-sisters AND aunt and niece. I need to think about this but if you are an expert geneology person, please comment back.
Oh no! No expert here. I’m trying to figure it out myself! This book had so many twists and turns I could barely keep everything AND EVERYONE straight! Lol
Jessie’s father was Rickys son. So Jessie is Kit’s niece. Virginia’s son is Jesse’s father
Thank you!! I am not a genealogy expert at all – I am not a visual learner so those charts really confuse me. But I drew one and was pretty sure that I was right about the aunt/niece relationship.
Your breakdown was great! I listened to the audio and wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Thank you!
Thanks so much. I am working on some audiobook guides!
Hi. Mrs Mayhew speaks of blue eyes. Lemora has green eyes, we’re told. The woman in the wheel chair has green eyes. Kit knows the woman Mayhew speaks of cannot be Lenora. When Kit leaves Hoped End she say goodbye to the green eyed woman in the wheelchair. Were the names on the portraits changed? I’m confused
Hi Pat!
Yes, in order for the switch to work so that Virgina (who has green eyes) could become Lenora (who has blue eyes), Lenora had to switch the paintings. (Well, I think she covered Lenora’s painting with the black cloth and put Lenora’s name under Virginia’s portrait).
When Kit finally tracks down Berniece Mayhew and Berniece mentions that Lenora would “bat her big blue eyes” at Ricardo, Kit realizes that “Mrs. Baker” must be the real Lenora and that the green eyed woman in the wheelchair is actually Virginia.
How did Jessie discover “Lenora” was actually Virginia and her grandmother? The real Mrs Baker didn’t know about the swap as she left before the murders. That’s why Archie and the fake Mrs. Baker had different stories on when she was during the murders.
That is a very good question and I don’t remember it being answered. If anyone has a theory, please let us know.
Correct if I’m wrong but after reading your summary (which was awesome, thanks for that) it appears that you say Mrs. Baker killed Mary but then later Kit’s father Patrick aka Ricky is said to have killed Mary. I’m confused, am I missing something?
Sorry that I wasn’t clear. This book was a LOT and going forward I am going to attempt shorter summaries. I literally needed a diagram for this one. Kit suspected Mrs. Baker, and then accused Carter, but in the end it was her father Ricky who killed Mary.
Thanks for responding Jen! That makes sense 👍🏻
Anytime! Did you read the book???
If the detective worked there a long time ago , how come he didn’t recognize that all three characters were not who they said they were? That Mrs. Baker was Lenora and Lenora was Virginia?
Did he forget who they were and what they looked like?
Kits father was there at the time and was really Ricky and not Patrick .
He investigated Kit’s mother’s death , you would think he would remember that Kit’s father wasn’t Patrick , but really Ricky?
He told Kit to go home to her father?
Did I miss something on why he didn’t pick up on all this?
Hi Cat!
Really great questions which are not explicitly addressed in the book as far as I can find. My only explanation (which I will add to the post) is that he didn’t come into contact with either Virginia or Ricky until later.
Did Berniece think both Lenora and Virginia were having an affair with her husband? When Berniece encounters Virginia (the night she was suppose to see Ricky for the first time after having to stay hidden in her room), Berniece accuses her of having an affair with her husband. She says “You honestly think I don’t know what’s going on…my husband sneaking out at odd hours, hardly paying attention to me…i’ve known for months”. However in present day at the nursing home Berniece states it was Lenora that was sneaking around with Ricardo. So young Berniece sees Virginia pregnant and accuses her of sleeping with her husband. Old Berniece is adamant Lenora had an affair with her husband and killed him. Are we thinking plot hole??
Ooh good catch. When Berniece accuses Virginia in the past, the two hadn’t swapped places. So she should have figured out that “Lenora” was not really Lenora.
But I agree that B should have used the right name. When I have chance I will add this to the post and see if anyone else has thoughts.
I thought that Archie was the one sneaking around with Ricardo, not Virginia; although she might have suspected Virginia. This plot is too convoluted and ridiculous!
Yes, you are right: Archie was the one who was really sneaking around at night with Ricardo and Virginia was pregnant by Ricky but Berniece accused Virginia. Yes, it is SO convoluted with people switching places and two Rickys. lol!
Ah your summaries are so helpful! I listened to this (and most books) as audiobooks and always worry I missed something. (And I did- I totally missed the comment about the blue eyes!) just wanted to say thanks for your posts and explanations! I really enjoyed this book but man is my head spinning trying to keep it all straight!.
Aw, thanks! I find audiobooks with complicated plots really challenging unless I can devote 100% of my attention to it the entire time.