The Mystery of Locked Rooms

At the beginning of The Mystery of Locked Rooms, Sarah discovers a foreclosure notice on her home. Her family is facing financial instability due to her father’s recent diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which renders him unable to work. CFS, often referred to as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), is a chronic illness that can have severely disabling symptoms. ME impacts an individual’s daily activities due to chronic and fluctuating tiredness, pain, and cognitive issues and may be exacerbated by stress, trauma, and environmental factors. The causes of ME are unknown; as Sarah says of her father, “No one knows what causes chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS for short, or how to get rid of it. So pretty much he’s just going to be tired the rest of his life, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it” (10). ME is a chronic condition with no known cure, but its symptoms can generally be managed through medical treatment and individual accommodations.

In The Mystery of Locked Rooms, Sarah explains that her father became ill two years before the story begins: “Dad suddenly slowed down. Like, way down. He said it felt like trying to recover from the flu, only he never had the flu. He slept most of the day, and when he was awake, he was moody and sad” (10). Since the novel is narrated by Sarah, the narrative focuses particularly on her reaction to her father’s condition rather than on his experience of it: “Sometimes when I see things I used to do with Dad, I feel [sad]. […] Dad is here, but also not here, [and] I don’t want to do any of that stuff if he can’t do it with me” (31). At the end of the book, Sarah’s father can resume some of his earlier activities, like getting out of the house and walking with the help of a mobility aid. Although the narrative refers to him as being in “remission from chronic fatigue syndrome” (237), in reality, people with ME don’t experience remission but manage their condition with treatment and support.