48 pages • 1 hour read
Charlie N. HolmbergKeeper of Enchanted Rooms
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “June 13, 1833, London, England”
Christian, Silas’s younger brother, accosts Silas in his study to ask why he is selling the estate. Silas has purchased Gorse End in Liverpool, an enchanted house, and he secretly plans to drain its magic for his own use. Christian uses his kinetic powers, and Silas flashes back to being attacked by his father. Christian demands to know what happened to their mother, and Silas responds with a blow that knocks his brother unconscious.
Silas performs the work to steal his brother’s spells and shrinks his body to the size of a peanut. He hides the body in the wine cellar, along with that of their mother. Silas is sick to realize that he’s a murderer but justifies his response as self-defense.
Chapter 8 Summary: “September 7, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island”
Fletcher Portendorfer arrives at sunset, responding to Merritt’s letter. Fletcher helps extract Merritt from the pit in the kitchen, and Hulda wards the house, thinking, “Whimbrel House wasn’t a terrible house, just an immature one” (71). She reflects on her earlier position at Gorse End and again has a vision of a wolf. Over breakfast, she reminds Merritt that he will need to hire staff. Fletcher is Merritt’s closest friend and tells Hulda how Merritt got himself hired at a steel factory so that he could write an exposé of their illegal business practices. Merritt and Fletcher set about fixing the kitchen floor.
Hulda commences her study of the house, wishing that she could use her augury. Fletcher lets it slip that Merritt lived with his family for a time. Wondering whether he can learn to live in the house, Merritt enters the sunroom. The house threatens to crush him but does not. Merritt asks the house if it is lonely, like he is, and the wall shifts back into place. Merritt sees his scarf on the floor.
Chapter 9 Summary: “October 29, 1833, Liverpool, England”
Silas is installed at Gorse End, along with the hidden bodies. The estate is registered with the London Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms, so he has to contend with their staff. He is wary because he doesn’t want these wizards to notice that he is stealing the house’s spells. The Boston office has sent a housekeeper, a young woman named Hulda Larkin. Silas is suspicious when she admits that she has a small skill at augury, but he believes that he can deceive her.
Chapter 10 Summary: “September 9, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island”
Merritt is delighted to set foot outside. He explores the island, enjoying its natural state, and finds a small kinetic boat. When he pushes the seal, the boat moves. Pleased with the discovery, Merritt begins thinking about the book he is writing.
Hulda is aggrieved to discover that Merritt is messy, especially when he gets caught up in writing his book, which is a murder story. He consults Hulda on how his protagonist, a young Scottish immigrant named Elise, should react, and Hulda gives him advice. Hulda finds that the house is beginning to respond to her requests.
Chapter 11 Summary: “October 16, 1835, Liverpool, England”
Silas returns from a party with information that a Mrs. Walker possesses a hysteria spell, one not sanctioned for use by the King’s League. He decides that after this theft, he will be done killing. He goes to his secret room to tend to his donors, ensuring that they are in good condition, and is shocked when policemen burst into the room. He fights with his magic, but these are King’s League men, who use their spells to overpower him. As they drag him out of the house, Silas sees Hulda watching and guesses that she found out about him.
Chapter 12 Summary: “September 13, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island”
Hulda confronts Merritt over leaving his socks in the kitchen. The color of the ceiling shifts as they squabble. Hulda reminds Merritt that she is BIKER’s employee, not his, and will move on when her work is done. Merritt feels disappointed by the news.
Beth Taylor, the maid, arrives. When she discusses her talent, Hulda reminds Merritt that it is a breach of etiquette to ask people what their magical percentages are. Merritt is nonetheless intrigued and asks Hulda about her magical pedigree, which is 12%. Beth proves competent, and Hulda is glad to return to her investigation of the house. She notices that only the room she is currently in transforms. When Merritt approaches, asking her to spell a word, she announces that the house is possessed by the spirit of a wizard.
Chapter 13 Summary: “September 13, 1846, Boston, Massachusetts”
Silas appreciates the freedom of America, where there is no royalty or aristocracy. He breaks into the offices of BIKER to browse their files, looking for enchanted houses. When he finds a note about Whimbrel House, he takes note, especially since the person in charge is Hulda Larkin.
Chapter 14 Summary: “September 13, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island”
Merritt is disturbed by the thought that a ghost is haunting his house. Hulda explains that “on occasion, a person of magic does not wish to pass on to the world beyond, and instead finds a new body” (112). Merritt sees that Hulda is disappointed when he asks for an exorcism, which will strip the magic from the house. Hulda announces that they must research the identity of the spirit first.
Merritt receives a letter from a man named Maurice Watson offering to purchase Whimbrel House. Beth, whose talent is psychometry, has a bad feeling about the letter. Hulda and Merritt look in the library for information on the house. Merritt sees a book that he says reminds him of his sister, which piques Hulda’s curiosity.
Chapter 15 Summary: “September 15, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island”
Hulda and Merritt take the kinetic boat to Portsmouth. When Hulda again mentions leaving when she gets a new assignment, Merritt begs her to stay. She experiences a moment of shock and admits that she thought she saw an old employer. Merritt walks her to the tram.
Hulda is certain that she saw Silas Hogwood. At the BIKER offices, Hulda shares that she thought she saw Silas and allows Myra to probe her memories, which is Myra’s skill. Myra decides that the person Hulda saw wasn’t actually Silas.
Hulda opens a letter from the Genealogical Society for the Advancement of Magic, sent by a Mr. Clarke, asking her to contact him if she would be interested in participating in their program to arrange marriages to propagate magical bloodlines. Before she leaves, Hulda again sees the outline of a wolf, this time in a library.
Chapters 7-15 Analysis
This section presents the rising action of the dramatic arc, deepening and expanding the existing conflicts. Hulda’s firm self-control and practicality provide a humorous contrast to Merritt’s more emotional reactions to turns of events, but there is also a glimmer of romantic interest seeded with his kindness to her after she receives a jolt from glimpsing Silas, which raises The Importance of Interpersonal Connections. Their opposite character traits—her practicality and his imagination, her cool-headedness and his warmth—create further tension between them, a classic device of romantic comedies and sitcoms that exploit growing sexual tension between their leads to create interest and often humor. Hulda’s continued reminders that she is on a temporary assignment and Merritt’s increasing dependence on her also provide conflict and tension to this end.
The tone in Hulda and Merritt’s chapters is generally light-hearted, an effect heightened by descriptions of the physical setting of the island, which is portrayed as serene, beautiful, and unspoiled. The unique elements of their world—like the existence of kinetic boats—continue to be introduced in a matter-of-fact fashion, contributing to the novel’s world building. The introduction of another character, Beth Taylor, the maid, adds not only to the staff but also to the circle surrounding Merritt, reducing the loneliness that he confessed to the house and that the house appears to share. These growing connections set the stakes for when the people Merritt cares about are in danger.
While Hulda learns more about the house, and Merritt learns more about Hulda, the reader learns of Silas’s escalating villainy, beginning with the attack on his brother. The moment when Silas is seen as almost anxious and tender in caring for his collection provides a dramatic contrast to the high tension when the King’s League men arrive and combat ensues. The scene at Gorse End also establishes the link between Silas and Hulda, as well as explaining the grudge he holds, which will come to bear in the 1846 storyline. Silas’s role as an antagonist increases while the house’s role as an antagonist lessens; Whimbrel House’s antics look more like childish pranks rather than inimical gestures, while Silas represents a real and growing threat.
Silas’s growing corruption and desire for dominance also introduce the theme of The Responsibilities of Power. While characters like Hulda seek to understand magic and use it for good, Silas wishes to become more powerful through harming others. One grisly feature of the book is what happens to Silas’s “donors” when he steals a person’s spells and then reduces their bodies; his macabre collection adds an element of horror to what is otherwise a warm, domestic fantasy. There is further foreshadowing of the wolf, the image of a predator, which introduces a sense of doom.
The transference of magic between houses and people also emerges in the relationship that Silas has with Gorse End when he begins to absorb the house’s magic, along with the spells of assorted neighbors. Silas’s use of transference helps further illustrate the rules governing magic in this world; as mentioned above, an important convention for fantasy novels is that the magical elements are explicable and consistent and have a coherent logic. When Silas reappears in New England—a source of dramatic irony since the reader knows that it is him, while Hulda doubts—he is haunting Hulda much as the wizard’s spirit is haunting Whimbrel House. Silas’s motivations are hostile, however, while the house responds to Merritt’s friendly overtures, once again establishing the difference between how the protagonists interact with magic in comparison to the antagonist.
