The Quiet Tenant

Known throughout the novel as “Rachel,” May Mitchell is the true protagonist of The Quiet Tenant. Her chapter headings are titled “The woman…” with her position at that moment in the story. Her varying names and imprecise epithets make her emblematic of the everywoman, for she represents all women who, for one reason or another, must reckon with their identity as common targets for violent men. When the novel opens, “Rachel” has spent the last five years in a shed in upstate New York, enduring severe beatings, nightly sexual assault, emotional terrorization, extreme isolation, and sensory deprivation. Before being kidnapped by serial killer Aidan Thomas, “Rachel” was an undergraduate student in her hometown of New York City. Following an incident during which her drink was drugged and she woke up in the emergency room, “Rachel” developed symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress and decided to withdraw from college and rent a cabin in upstate New York, hoping that the pastoral setting would help her to heal. It is at this location that Aidan approaches her, holds her at gunpoint, and forces her into his truck. While held captive in the shed, “Rachel” sustains her sanity by reading the three paperback books that Aidan has left with her and reflecting on the relationships she had with her friends and family before she was kidnapped.