Lovecraft Country

When summer arrives, Letitia excitedly tells George that she plans to buy a house. While staying with her sister Ruby, Letitia learned about an anonymous old debt owed to her poker-playing father. In spite of Ruby’s skepticism, Letitia visited the lawyer’s office, collected the money, and now wants to use it to buy a house in a white neighborhood in Chicago. George once helped a couple move into a white neighborhood and remembers the difficulty and abuse they faced. Letitia insists that she is serious about the idea, even if she is yet to convince Ruby.

Letitia takes Ruby to a real estate broker. Ruby chides Letitia, as always, for her inability to hold down a steady job. As they sit with Mr. Archibald, the white realtor, Ruby is shocked by Letitia’s plan to buy a house in an unwelcoming neighborhood. Letitia spots one house much cheaper than the others: the Winthrop House. The house is huge but rundown, making it ideally suited to Letitia’s plans to renovate and rent out the rooms. However, Mr. Archibald reveals that the house is supposedly haunted. Ruby is horrified. Letitia tries to negotiate a lower price.

Letitia and Ruby host a moving-in-day party for their new home. The first to arrive is George’s wife, Hippolyta, and her son Horace. Letitia gives them the tour of the house, including the broken elevator, the bronze nude statute of the goddess Hecate, and an orrery (a mechanical model of an unknown solar system). Hippolyta is enchanted by the orrery and Letitia offers to loan it to her, along with a collection of photographs of unfamiliar star constellations. Other guests arrive, bringing furniture and party supplies.

Montrose brings a shotgun and some ammo as a gift. He discusses the house’s former owner, Hiram Winthrop, with Letitia while the other guests dance and have fun. Letitia finds Atticus on the roof and they discuss the apparent fury of the white neighbors. Letitia criticizes Atticus, who has barely spoken to her after returning from Ardham. She offers him a room in the house in exchange for repair work. Atticus agrees.

A few days later, Letitia experiences strange dreams involving her mother, the messy house, Hiram Winthrop, and strange events. She is woken by Ruby, who interrupts the dream to say that there is someone in the house. Letitia takes the shotgun and investigates the noises. Just as she is about to dismiss Ruby’s worries, every door in the house slams shut. Ruby refuses to stay in the house and leaves the next morning. Letitia is alone in the house. The food in her cupboard turns into “a cascade of roaches, maggots, spiders, and other squirming and crawling things” (113), her dresses are found ruined in the bathtub, and racist slurs begin to appear around the house, written by an unseen hand. Letitia is enraged. She bursts into the orrery room with the shotgun, but an invisible force stops her. The ghost takes the gun from her hands and shoves her out of the room, dragging her to the broken elevator. As she stands over the empty shaft, Letitia argues with the ghost. She threatens to haunt the house herself. The ghost seems to relent.

Two days later, Letitia visits Ruby’s old apartment. Ruby never gave up the lease; Letitia views this as a betrayal (115). Ruby gives up all ownership of the Winthrop house and refuses to return. Afterward, Letitia keeps a hand on a straight razor in her pocket as she walks home in the dark. One of her white neighbors harasses her from a car, so she takes a shortcut through an alley. The car cuts her off and a group of white men begin to harass Letitia. She is saved by a large German shepherd. The dog, a loan from her friend Charlie, chases away the men. Letitia returns home.

The next day, Letitia reflects on her father’s gambling habits while waiting for a friend. Letitia misses her father and dealing out practice poker hands helps her to focus her mind  and feel closer to him. As she deals the cards, she feels the presence of Hiram Winthrop’s ghost. Her attempts to bargain with Winthrop are interrupted by her neighbors, who use a farm truck to splatter manure against the house. Letitia grabs her shotgun and chases them away. She returns inside and finds a chessboard set up, waiting for her to play.

Hooded men break into the house the following evening. They believe that Letitia is out, but they are wary about the dog. As they prepare to burn the house down, Winthrop’s ghost attacks. Later, Letitia returns from her date with Atticus. She discovers a police car and a fire truck outside her house. The blond boy who harassed her from his car has his head caught in the elevator. His screams made the neighbors call the authorities. The other invaders are found cowering in the basement.

Letitia welcomes her first tenants. The pieces on the chessboard show that she has beaten Winthrop. The white neighbors are already beginning to move out. Elsewhere, Atticus confronts Mr. Archibald. He found photographs in the house linking Hiram Winthrop to Samuel Braithwhite and the Order. Atticus accuses Mr. Archibald of working for the Order and suggests that he orchestrated Letitia’s purchase of the Winthrop house. He tells Archibald to pass along a message to Caleb Braithwhite, reminding Caleb that his business is not with Letitia. The realtor leaves without reply.