Summary

In the prologue, Hill House does not sleep or dream. Instead, it watches and waits (3).

In Chapter 1, Holly Sherwin leaves her girlfriend Nisa in bed at their upstate rental and goes for a drive. They are spending a few days outside the city. Holly grabs coffee at the café and keeps driving. She considers finding a fixer-upper in Hillsdale with Nisa. Holly has been teaching English “at a private school in Queens,” and trying to work on her plays in the meantime (8). Nisa is a singer-songwriter and has also struggled to maintain her artistic career since the pandemic.

However, Holly recently received “a grant for a new play” (9). The money will help her create the life she wanted 20 years prior, “before everything got derailed by Macy-Lee Barton’s death” (10).

In Chapter 2, Holly continues driving through Hillsdale. She takes a side road to...