Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses xenophobia and harmful prejudices toward itinerant communities, fatphobia, and domestic violence.

“There is no police station at Lansquenet-Sous-Tannes, therefore no crime.”

Harris indicates the small, remote nature of Lansquenet. She plays into the idea that small villages are safe compared to cities, hinting at a countryside idyll with a peaceful community life. However, Vianne is clearly making this statement with a sense of irony: The logic is blatantly flawed. This undermines the assumption that a smaller village is safer, creating a sense of unease. Vianne instead implies that a small village can be a dangerous place due to its isolated, insular nature.

“We lit a candle for every room, gold and red and white and orange. I prefer to make my own incense, but in a crisis the bought sticks are good enough for our purposes, lavender and cedar and lemongrass […] for ten minutes we stamped around every room, shouting and singing at the top of our voices—Out! Out! Out!—until the outraged ghosts fled.”

Harris explores The Importance of Spirituality, specifically ritual and stories. She shows how these things can create or shape meaning in human lives—for example, by establishing a feeling of home or driving away sadness, as Vianne and Anouk do here. The colors of the candles are warm and luxurious, creating an atmosphere of safety and comfort. The details of the colors and the scents build vivid sensory imagery. The ambiguity of the ghosts, which could be literal or could reflect Anouk and Vianne’s uncertainties in a new, dark place, is typical of the magical realism