Home Before Dark

“I believe science, which has concluded that when we die, we die. Our souls don’t stay behind, lingering like stray cats until someone notices us. We don’t become shadow versions of ourselves. We don’t haunt.”

Maggie doesn’t believe in haunted houses because she doesn’t believe in ghosts. The relationship between what she sees and what she believes is a major source of narrative tension. This foreshadows her possible sighting of Petra on the staircase at the book’s climax. She actually sees Elsa, but she’ll never forget that it appeared to be Petra.

“Grief is tricky like that. It can lie low for hours, long enough for magical thinking to take hold. Then, when you’re good and vulnerable, it will leap out at you like a fun-house skeleton, and all the pain you thought was gone comes roaring back.”

Maggie contemplates the loss of her father. She keeps hoping that the fact that he deceived her will make her feel his loss less acutely. However, reminders of him are everywhere in her life. She worries that she’ll never be able to heal without knowing the truth about him. However, she also worries that the truth could alienate her further from his memory.

“Few things in life are more disappointing than knowing your parents aren’t being honest with you.”

Maggie spends most of her adult life being disappointed in her parents, particularly with what she believes is their deception about Baneberry Hall. However, even though she’s right about their deception, she’s wrong about their motivations. If she knew why Jessica and Ewan hid the truth from her, she wouldn’t feel as harshly toward them. They’re not evasive because they’re ashamed to tell her—but only because they’re protective of her.