Everton

Everton New Hampshire is the fictional town where all the events in the novel take place. It is the hometown of Emma Starling, the protagonist, and is the place she left after high school because she desired to escape the drudgery of its small town dynamic. Ultimately, she must return here to resolve her relationship with her father and her best friend, Crystal Nash.

Everton is home to Meriden College, which employed Clive Starling as a professor of poetry, and where Ingrid Starling still works as the librarian. The college is the feature that puts the town on the map and draws potential new residents. The perception of the townspeople is that Everton is not a place for a young person to stay if they wish to make something of their lives. For this reason, many high school residents leave and never come back. Emma and her new...