The Woman in the Library

There are two Leos in the narrative. The Leo in the frame narrative is an ex-policeman, frustrated writer, and beta reader for Hannah Tigone. There is no description of his appearance because he chooses to remain anonymous throughout the frame narrative. Gentill mostly characterizes Leo through his words and actions. The first vision the reader has of him is as a superfan sending Hannah pictures of her book and readers in the United States and as a person struggling with writer’s block in the Reading Room in the Boston Public Library. Leo A initially uses formal, flattering language to communicate with Hannah in the early chapters of the book.

His tone and actions shift after a literary agent rejects his long manuscript (his 11th rejection) and the COVID pandemic causes him to become socially isolated. He makes increasingly aggressive notes on Hannah’s work-in-progress and sends her more and more gory scenes of violence, showing that he has gone from writing and reading about murder to committing murder. His misreading of interpersonal relationships (including his own with Hannah) and his requests that Hannah include humiliation and violence perpetrated against women indicate his misogynistic perspective on women. He stalks Hannah and makes it to her side before the police capture him. His last word in the novel is an email in which he flaunts his ability to get in touch with Hannah and makes a promise that he will reunite with her. His arc shows The Power of Reading and Writing may be dangerous.

Leo B shares several traits with Leo A, but it is unclear if he is a foil or a double. Leo B respects Freddie in the story-within-a-story by not pressing her when she avoids a romantic encounter with him. On the other hand, he is everywhere Freddie is, including at the end of the novel, when he shows up to help Freddie in the wake of the climax of the novel. If he is a foil, his character helps highlight what a true friend and colleague looks like, especially when they respect boundaries. If Leo B is actually stalking Freddie, he is a double who reinforces the dangers of disrespecting boundaries between reality and imagination.

Cain is a 30-year-old man with dark hair and a handsome face. His pen name and government name are allusions to the story of Cain, the man in the Bible book of Genesis who commits the first murder by killing his brother out of jealousy. His two names indicate he is a complicated man with a violent past. He is the romantic interest for Freddie in the story-within-a-story. Initially, Cain appears to be a successful writer attempting to lay to rest some unfinished business in his past and to do research on a novel inspired by his time as a runaway in Boston.

Through the unreliable perspective of Freddie, whose understanding of his character is colored by her attraction to him, Cain is a talented, exciting man who cannot escape his past as Abel Manners. Cain’s actions as the attacks and murders proliferate are suspicious—he repeatedly lies about his past, encourages Freddie to aid and abet him as he goes on the run, and surreptitiously watches Freddie during his time as a fugitive. Hannah presents Cain as a man with an edge that makes him dangerous, such as when he grabs Freddie from behind. Hannah’s shift to representing Cain as a dishonest, possibly dangerous man is in response to Leo A’s desire for a more violent love interest. Free from the influence of Leo A, Hannah writes Cain as a lover who has finally overcome the threat the past poses to his relationship with Freddie.

Handsome Man is what Freddie makes of Cain as she writes her novel. In her novel, Handsome Man is a wounded, innocent figure who deserves love and has been mistreated by life. Freddie’s development of Handsome Man colors her relationship with Cain, especially when she accepts his lies. Her willingness to give Cain the benefit of the doubt shows the danger in not being able to distinguish between Reality Versus Imagination and The Power of Reading and Writing to change one’s apprehension of reality.

Whit Metters is a man who goes to law school to please his overbearing and successful parents, but he is also an investigative journalist. Whit conceals his true identity for much of the story-within-a-story because he is the hidden antagonist to Freddie and the others. Whit presents himself as a caring, steadfast friend who stands by Cain even when Marigold begins to believe Cain is behind the attacks and murders occurring around the four friends. As the story-within-the-story progresses, it becomes clear that Whit is also a liar who downplays his writing skills, his relationship with Caroline Palfrey, and (ultimately) his ability to manipulate people around him. Freddie creates his fictional equivalent in Heroic Chin, a name that captures perfectly Whit’s self-love and shallowness (he is a handsome face, but not much else). The anti-climactic scene in which he uses cliches to confess he is behind the killing of Caroline and Boo is a plot twist that shows Hannah’s lack of investment in the story-within-a-story by the end.

Marigold is a character in the story-within-a-story. She is a former ballerina, a brilliant psychology student at Harvard, a person whose entire upper body is covered with tattoos, and a woman whose piercings, buzz cut, and edgy style are designed to distance her from her roots, likely a wealthy Boston family. She is a sidekick who initially seems like a candidate for the murderer in the story-within-a-story, especially as her fascination with Whit veers into stalking behavior.

Freddie characterizes Marigold as an earnest young woman who is emotionally fragile and unable to find appropriate ways to express her affection and love for others. She constantly violates boundaries, such as when she does research for Cain after he explicitly asks her not to, calls Whit so much he blocks her number, and surreptitiously follows Whit around. Freddie relies on these traits as the backbone for the character Freud Girl/Ballerina, whose vulnerability makes her either a stalker or a victim in Freddie’s novel. The blurring of boundaries among Marigold, Freud Girl, and Ballerina shows how powerful a force Freddie’s writing is on her understanding of reality.

Hannah Tigone is the author of Gentill’s frame narrative, and her characterization is completely indirect. There are no indicators of what she looks like, her habits, or how she speaks. As the object of Leo A/Wil Saunders’s obsession, she is a capricious, jealous person who aims to provoke Leo A, and she withholds her love from him. Leo A is an unreliable narrator, so this representation of her is more of a characterization of Leo A’s distorted view of the world. Her actions, especially her decision to use her novel to trap and provoke Leo A, show her confidence in herself as a writer. Her writing choices in the story-within-a-story illustrate her power as a writer; she rewrites experiences from Leo A’s life skillfully and defies his notes to her, showing her sense of ownership over her own work and her contempt for Leo A. The absence of any direct presentation of Hannah helps Gentill make the point that writers deserve their privacy. That absence may also be Gentill’s commentary on the importance of readers and reading in determining the meaning of a text.

Boo is a character in the story-within-a-story. Boo, also known as Shaun Jacobs, is a former surgeon whose addiction to prescription drugs led to his incarceration in the same prison as Cain. Hannah presents Boo as a volatile, unpredictable man whose distorted thinking leads him to attack Cain after he gets high on drugs. Since his release from prison, Boo has been unhoused. Boo isn’t just a former surgeon fallen from grace, he is also a man who believes in a sense of justice, which motivates him to attack Whit for the murder of Caroline. Whit murders Boo, a secondary character, in his desperation to cover up his crimes.

Mrs. Weinbaum is the nosy downstair neighbor of Freddie Kincaid. Mrs. Weinbaum is an older, retired woman who shocks Cain and Freddie by claiming she is a doctor when she volunteers to treat Cain after Boo attacks him. The revelation that she regularly pretends to be someone she is not illustrates the dangers of not being able to distinguish Reality Versus Imagination.

Jean Metters is a character in the story-within-a-story. Freddie describes her as “thin, very beautiful, and looks no older than thirty-five. She speaks politely but efficiently and neither her upper lip nor her brow moves at all” (50). She is a polished professional woman, affluent, and self-confident. Jean primarily describes herself as Whit’s mother, and most of her actions—including accusing Cain of attacking her—are motivated by her desire to protect Whit. For Freddie, Jean is the defense attorney who was unable to get Cain a lighter sentence despite his youth. Freddie sees her as a reminder of the way the criminal justice system may abuse people like Cain. The mystery of who actually attacked Jean isn’t fully resolved in the story, a loose end that shows Hannah’s lack of commitment to giving Leo A a well-made text.