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Summary
Prologue
The book opens in media res (in the middle of things), as an unnamed narrator says if she leaves this house, it will be in handcuffs. The narrator speaks with a detective named Connors about a dead body in the attic. She tells Connors that she found the body an hour before, after going to the attic because she heard a sound. She wonders if she should ask for a lawyer, since the police seem suspicious of her. She also indicates that she knows more than she’s saying. After seeing the attic, a younger officer calls out to Officer Connors, his face pale, insisting that he needs to see it for himself.
Part I: Three Months Earlier
Chapter One: Millie
Three months earlier, a young woman named Millie interviews for a position as a live-in housekeeper with the Winchester family. The matriarch, Nina Winchester, is a glamorous and well-dressed woman, and the house is beautiful and opulent. Nina is friendly, but Millie assumes she is probably spoiled, since she hires help for cleaning, cooking, gardening, and caring for her daughter, Cecelia. Millie, who has been living in her car for the past month, doubts she will get such a high-paying job with such a wealthy family. She also reveals to the reader that she wouldn’t pass a background check, but doesn’t explain why.
The Winchester house is impressive, but as Nina shows Millie the staircase to her attic bedroom—the quarters for the hired help—Millie notices the stark contrast in its lack of glamor. The room is small and instills a sense of dread in Millie for reasons she can’t quite identify. Meeting Nina’s daughter, Cecilia, who looks like a character from a horror movie, only adds to her unease. As she leaves, the landscaper stares at Millie eerily, as if trying to warn her.
Chapter Two
Millie leads a difficult, impoverished life. She showers at a rest stop and was fired from her job three weeks after being evicted from her studio apartment. Her full name is Wilhelmina Calloway, named after her grandmother, but she goes by Millie, as she dislikes her full name. She is no longer on speaking terms with her parents and feels alone in the world.
Millie receives a call from Munch Burgers, where she had applied for a job. She was hopeful due to their leniency about criminal records, but she learns the position has been filled. She assumes she didn’t get her dream job at the Winchesters, and is shocked when Nina calls to offer her the position. Millie is ecstatic but surprised that Nina would invite her to live in her house without conducting a background check. She reveals that she spent the last ten years in prison.
Chapter Three
On her first day of work, Millie has another run-in with the landscaper, whom she finds attractive. She tries to introduce herself, but he only speaks Italian. He struggles to communicate a message to her, and she hears the word pericolo.
In the week since she interviewed, the Winchester house has become disastrously messy. Nina is welcoming towards Millie and gives her an iPhone, having added her to the family plan. Millie meets Nina’s husband, Andrew, for the first time and notes that he’s very attractive, with a discrepancy between his appearance and Nina’s. They seem happily married, but Nina shows signs of jealousy at Andrew’s friendliness toward Millie. She asks Millie why she isn’t wearing the glasses that she wore during her interview, and Millie lies and says that she is wearing contacts (in fact, Millie wore the glasses in order to appear less threatening, even though she sees fine without them).
Millie gets settled in her room and realizes the source of her feelings of dread: the room locks from the outside rather than the inside. She also sees long scratches on the door, as if someone was trying to get out. She looks up the meaning of the word pericolo and discovers that it means “danger.”
Chapter Four
Millie spends her first day of work cleaning the filthy kitchen. Cecilia comes home from school, and Millie is discomfited by her cold, sarcastic demeanor. She asks for something to eat, and Millie makes her Ritz crackers with peanut butter, like her own mother used to make. Cecilia screams that she’s allergic and that Millie is trying to kill her. Nina is furious and claims that she told Millie about Cecilia’s allergies, even though Millie is sure she didn’t. Nina forgives Millie, but makes it clear that she’s on thin ice. Millie resolves to get back into the family’s good graces.
Analysis: Prologue-Chapter Four
The in media res prologue immediately ratchets up the tension and sets up several unanswered questions: is the unnamed narrator Millie? Who was killed? Was Millie responsible for their death? And if not, what does she know that she’s not saying? This set-up also casts Millie as an unreliable narrator, raising doubts about what she might be concealing and the truthfulness of her account.
Read an in-depth character analysis of Millie Calloway.
In these opening chapters, the narrative creates a sense of foreboding and psychological tension. Millie's secrets, such as her estrangement from her family and her time in prison, are only hinted at, creating an aura of mystery and uncertainty around her character. Cecilia, the Winchesters' daughter, embodies the "evil child" trope with her cold demeanor and blank expression, aligning with conventions from the horror genre. Millie’s unsettling thoughts about Cecilia potentially being capable of murder, coupled with the landscaper’s silent stares, further contribute to a sense of impending danger.
Read about the novel’s theme of the Power of Psychological control.
Millie’s room is particularly symbolic of her situation and the novel's larger themes. It is physically small, and the furniture is sparse and tiny. Millie just got out of prison, but she is not free; due to her poverty and criminal background, she is desperate and therefore vulnerable, an easy target for manipulation or mistreatment. This is only reinforced by the fact that she finds herself in a room that resembles a cell. It locks from the outside, indicating control and a lack of freedom, with scratches on the door that suggest a previous occupant may have tried to escape. This physical confinement mirrors Millie’s emotional and psychological imprisonment—she is desperate for this job and has no other options. This creates a pervasive sense of dread, hinting that the Winchester household may hold more than just physical entrapment for Millie. The word "pericolo" serves as a foreboding warning that she may have entered a situation from which escape will be even more difficult than from her previous life.
Read about the theme of the Prison of Poverty in The Housemaid.
While the room represents the possibility of physical imprisonment, Millie is psychologically held hostage by her economic desperation. The initial chapters establish a stark class conflict between Millie’s poverty and the Winchester family’s immense privilege. Millie’s hyper- awareness of the house’s opulence, including a flat-screen TV, a renovated kitchen, and pictures of international trips, enhances the sense of economic disparity. Millie, who is living out of her car, deeply resents Nina Winchester's affluent lifestyle. Millie views Nina as spoiled, pointing out her reliance on hired help and her tendency to make offhand remarks about being overwhelmed despite her considerable resources.
Read an in-depth character analysis of Nina Winchester.
Even Nina’s attempts at friendliness and generosity, such as giving Millie an iPhone when she previously used a flip phone, underscore the inherent power imbalance. The iPhone is an inconsequential expense for Nina, but would represent a significant financial burden for Millie. Similarly, Nina’s comments about their shared Brooklyn roots contrast sharply with their vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds. Millie notes that Nina is just a few inches taller than her with heels, but it feels like more, because Nina literally and figuratively makes her feel small. Millie mentions that she purposely dresses down for the interview, even wearing glasses she doesn’t need so she doesn’t seem threatening, signaling that she is accustomed to making herself smaller in order to survive.
