The Maid's Diary

The Maid’s Diary is an adult thriller by Loreth Anne White. White lives in Canada and divides her time between the Vancouver area and a ski resort in the Coastal Mountains, both of which feature as settings for The Maid’s Diary. Originally a journalist, White is a prolific author and has written dozens of novels in the mystery and thrillers genres, selling over 3 million books globally. She has been nominated for multiple awards and has won the Daphne Du Maurier and Arthur Ellis awards. Through a plot based around a fictional disappearance and murder investigation, the novel examines the themes of False Narratives and Identities, Shame, Silence, and Invisibility, and Abuse Enablers: Complicity and Moral Responsibility.

This study guide uses the Cheekamus House Publishing 2023 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide make reference to rape, assault, stalking, coerced abortion, and infanticide.

Plot Summary

The Maid’s Diary alternates between five different characters' points of view, changing with each chapter.

An injured woman lies in the back seat of a car. Her arms are pinned, and she can’t move, but she knows that she’s been beaten. Two people in the front seat are talking about her, suggesting that she brought this attack on herself and that they must dump her. The woman loses consciousness.

At midnight on Halloween night, a man and a woman drive to an abandoned dock along an ocean inlet where they intend to have sex. While there, two cars drive up. Two people climb out carrying a large object rolled in a carpet, which they dump into the water. They send one of the vehicles, a Subaru Crosstrek, into the ocean after it. The couple observing this event fears that they’ve just witnessed two murderers disposing of a body. Because they don’t want their affair discovered, they decide not to report the incident to the police.

The action jumps to the previous morning. An elderly woman looks out of her window to observe the North residence across the street, which she calls the Glass House because of its many windows. The North’s maid, named Kit Darling, arrives in her Subaru Crosstrek to begin her day’s cleaning. She waves at the old woman. Shortly before midnight, the old woman hears a scream coming from the Glass House, and a car door slams. She immediately calls the police. The next morning, Detective Mallory Van Alst and her team arrive to investigate. The Glass House belongs to Vanessa and Haruto North. Both are absent, but their two cars are in the garage. Blood inside indicates that someone was injured and a body was dragged from the building. Empty glasses suggest that there were three people inside at the time.

The investigation leads to a wealthy couple named Daisy and Jon Rittenberg. Daisy’s father owns a string of ski resorts and Jon, an Olympic gold medalist in skiing, now works for his father-in-law. The couple came to the house the previous night for dinner with the Norths but claim to have left immediately because Daisy, who is pregnant, suffered cramps. At the scene of the crime, a bloody sneaker is identified as belonging to Kit.

The novel shifts to Kit’s diary. Many years ago, aged 16, Kit attends a ski lodge party in Whistler where Jon and his ski team buddies are carousing. Jon spikes Kit’s drink and he and his friends rape her. Kit is unable to remember anything from that night and the men insist that the sex was consensual. Kit finds she is pregnant and her mother persuades her to abort the fetus. Suffering from psychological trauma in the aftermath of the incident, Kit drops out of school, moves to Vancouver, and takes a string of jobs as a maid. Her only joy in life is performing in an amateur theatrical troupe with her best friend, a gay man named Boon.

At the age of 34, Kit takes a cleaning job for Jon and Daisy Rittenberg. Once inside their home, she starts to remember the night when she was raped. Her search of the Rittenberg house reveals a video showing the sexual assault of her at the ski lodge. Kit also finds an NDA signed by her mother and Daisy’s mother agreeing to drop all accusations against Jon. Drawing on her talent as an actor and with the aid of Boon, Kit sets about staging her own murder and framing Jon and Daisy at the Glass House.

Detectives discover that Kit is still alive and has flown overseas. Kit leaves behind evidence proving Jon’s sexual assault and Daisy’s participation in covering up the crime and the couple are prosecuted. After 18 years, Kit finally receives closure.