Richard’s abuse is psychological, emotional, and physical. Vanessa’s guilt and terror motivated her to move from Florida to New York. At her funeral, Jason threatened Vanessa with revenge.
Vanessa, who was supposed to be looking after Maggie, blames herself-and so did Maggie’s brother, Jason.
During her senior year of college, Vanessa planned a sorority event in which a pledge, Maggie, accidently drowned. Part 2 unpacks Vanessa’s trauma and the abuse she suffered with Richard. Vanessa had been trying to reach Richard’s new fiancée, Emma, to warn her about Richard’s abusive tendencies. Part 1 concludes with a twist: Nellie is Vanessa’s younger self. Vanessa spends her time attempting to contact Richard’s fiancée, her obsession escalating as she struggles to reach her. He interferes with her time with her friends, pressures her to leave her job, and leaves her out of crucial life decisions. Nellie’s upcoming wedding is tainted by her apprehensions towards her life with Richard, which she rationalizes despite the growing evidence that Richard is controlling. The rest of Part 1 tells Vanessa’s and Nellie’s tales alternately. Now, she spends her time obsessing over Richard and her “replacement.” Vanessa learns of her ex-husband’s engagement while at work. After the breakdown of her marriage, she moved in with her Aunt Charlotte. These calls unsettle her, but she finds comfort in Richard’s ability to soothe and protect her.Ĭhapter 2 switches back to Vanessa’s first person-account.
Her anxiety has recently grown as she has begun to receive mysterious, anonymous calls. When Nellie was in college, her life was altered by a traumatic event, and this experience intensified her lifelong insomnia.
Nellie, a compulsively nervous pre-school teacher, prepares for her upcoming wedding to Richard, a successful businessman. In the Prologue, Vanessa stalks the young, pretty woman her ex-husband, Richard, left her for and ominously alludes to the harm the other woman may suffer if she stays with Richard. The novel is divided into three parts Part 1 switches between Vanessa’s first-person narration and Nellie’s third-person account.
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