The Keeper of Stories

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, physical abuse, and death.

Janice (whose first name is actually Hope) is a woman in her late forties who lives in Cambridge, England. She was born in Tanzania where her father taught at a university. She then moved with her sister, Joy, and their mother to Northampton, England, after her father died. She began going by her middle name, Janice, at that time. Janice is married to Mike at the start of the novel, though the marriage is unfulfilling. Janice and Mike have a grown son, Simon, whom Janice sees rarely since he lives and works in London. She feels pervasive guilt over allowing Mike to send Simon to a private boarding school when he was young, another example of The Paralyzing Effects of Guilt.

Janice knows that others see her as “just” a cleaner, but she enjoys her work and almost all her clients, whom she loves quietly, mentally collecting their personal histories for her reflection. She collects stories from strangers and passersby as well. She occasionally recognizes in interior monologue that her placid exterior is quite different from some of her private feelings: