The Housemaid Is Watching Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Millie Calloway

A broke ex-convict who killed a boy as a teenager to protect her best friend, now desperate enough to sleep in her car. She takes the Winchester job thinking she is escaping her past; she is actually being recruited into someone else's revenge, and she finishes it.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Job Nobody Should Take; Part 2: One Night, One Trap Sprung; Part 3: The Wife's Confession; Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands
Themes:: The abuser who plays the rescuer; Desperation as a weapon; Violence learned and returned; The witness no one hears; Doors and who holds the key

Nina Winchester

The erratic, cruel wife—until the book reveals her as a prisoner of her own home, committed to an asylum by her husband's staged plot. She hired Millie as the killer she could not be, and pays for her freedom with a year of silence.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Job Nobody Should Take; Part 2: One Night, One Trap Sprung; Part 3: The Wife's Confession; Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands
Themes:: The abuser who plays the rescuer; Desperation as a weapon; The witness no one hears; Doors and who holds the key

Andrew Winchester

The charming husband who plays rescuer to Millie while torturing his wife behind locked doors. He locks Millie in the attic expecting a new victim and instead meets the one person in the house capable of ending him.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Job Nobody Should Take; Part 2: One Night, One Trap Sprung; Part 3: The Wife's Confession; Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands
Themes:: The abuser who plays the rescuer; Violence learned and returned; The witness no one hears; Doors and who holds the key

Enzo

The Italian gardener with limited English who sees everything and can say almost none of it. His one-word warning goes unheeded, but he is the one who brings Nina back and later builds something good with Millie.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Job Nobody Should Take; Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands
Themes:: The witness no one hears

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Detective Connors

The investigator who closes Andrew's death as an accident. His dead daughter's former fiancé was Andrew, and his quiet mercy suggests he knew exactly what kind of man died in that attic.

Appears in:: Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands

Lisa Killeffer

The woman who interviews Millie a year later, sent by Nina's recommendation, wearing a bruise her husband gave her. She is the next Nina—and Millie knows exactly what to do.

Appears in:: Part 4: The Attic Changes Hands

How they are connected

Key relationships

Nina Winchester Millie Calloway
She hired Millie as the killer she could not be, and pays for her freedom with a year of silence.
Andrew Winchester Millie Calloway
The charming husband who plays rescuer to Millie while torturing his wife behind locked doors.
Enzo Millie Calloway
His one-word warning goes unheeded, but he is the one who brings Nina back and later builds something good with Millie.
Enzo Nina Winchester
His one-word warning goes unheeded, but he is the one who brings Nina back and later builds something good with Millie.
Detective Connors Andrew Winchester
The investigator who closes Andrew's death as an accident.
Lisa Killeffer Millie Calloway
The woman who interviews Millie a year later, sent by Nina's recommendation, wearing a bruise her husband gave her.
Lisa Killeffer Nina Winchester
The woman who interviews Millie a year later, sent by Nina's recommendation, wearing a bruise her husband gave her.

Go deeper

The Housemaid Is Watching themes & symbols

The abuser who plays the rescuer · Desperation as a weapon · Violence learned and returned · The witness no one hears

Themes explained

Read the full The Housemaid Is Watching summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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