High House

High house is the primary setting of the novel. The house is referred to as such because of its peculiar location on the land. The high house property is particularly significant, because if it were to flood, the land would become an island of its own.

After the death of her uncle, Francesca inherits the house. Although she rents it out to various students and artists over the years, she and her family come to use it as their vacation property. Then, when Francesca realizes that the environmental crisis is worsening, she starts converting high house into a haven for her son and stepdaughter. Because of the nature of her work, she doubts she and her husband will survive. She therefore prepares high house as a refuge for Pauly and Caro.

Over the course of the weeks and months preceding the flood, Sally, Caro, Grandy, and Pauly...