House of Salt and Sorrows

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-12

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 19-24

Chapters 25-30

Chapters 31-37

Chapter 38-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapter 38-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 38 Summary

When Annaleigh arrives to help Morella, Camille is in tears. As Annaleigh expected, the birth was too soon, and Camille lays their stillborn brother (the first of the delivered twins) in her arms. Annaleigh tells Camille that the birth could be an illusion from Kosamaras, and Camille starts to believe her. She then goes to Morella, and Ortun carries his stillborn son out of the room. As Morella wails about how she can’t have another stillborn, Annaleigh and Camille rub lavender on her, asking if it reminds her of the flowers near her home. In her tired state, she admits she was born near mountains with red healing flowers. She’s of the People of Bones, Viscardi’s followers. Annaleigh picks up on this, and since Morella thinks she’s going to die, she reveals the truth.

Morella was one of the many midwives for the sisters’ mother, Cecilia, when Verity was born. She desired Ortun and thought he felt the same, so she gave Cecilia poisonous hemlock to kill her; Camille hits her with a fire prod in anger. After Cecilia died, Ortun sought Morella’s company but remained in mourning. To speed up their courtship, Morella made a deal with Viscardi to force Ortun to fall in love with her and ensure she bears a son. She also pushed Eulalie off the cliffs because the eldest remembered her as her mother’s midwife. Annaleigh is upset but still helps Morella deliver the next twin—who is born a winged monster.

Chapter 39 Summary

Suddenly, a fire starts in the castle, and Camille wills everyone to leave. She’s horrified by the baby, a dragon-like creature who bites the umbilical cord. Viscardi appears in dragon form, taking the baby dragon, his son. Morella yells that he lied, but he insists he never lies: Viscardi gave her a husband, castle, and son, but she never specified that her son be born alive. She slept with both Ortun and Viscardi to have two sons but states that their deal is over, as she wants the sisters to be safe. Viscardi kills Morella while Annaleigh and Camille watch in shock.

As the fire burns, Camille asks if Viscardi could bring her mother or sisters back to life. He claims Camille and Annaleigh were his favorite dancing partners, but they ultimately resist him and escape. Outside in the snow, the younger sisters and Hanna are weeping. Hanna asks for her son, Fisher, but Annaleigh knows the truth, that he is dead. With Viscardi’s deal complete, the illusions are dispelled. However, Ortun, the sisters’ stillborn half-brother, and Verity are missing. The remaining sisters sob together.

Chapter 40 Summary

Suddenly, a flaming person flies out of a window, landing in the snow. Annaleigh rushes over to find Cassius clutching Verity. He saved Verity, who was trapped in an illusion. Annaleigh proclaims her love for him, asking if Versia can heal his injured body. Cassius voices his undying love but says she must let him go, and he dies. She and Verity weep; soon, Cassius’s body disappears. Meanwhile, the sisters gaze at their destroyed home. As the heir, Camille steps up and asserts that they are the People of the Salt and will rebuild.

Epilogue Summary

Seven months later, Annaleigh and the youngest light lanterns atop Old Maude to honor Versia, Cassius’s mother. They release the lanterns with wishes in their hearts, as Cassius taught Annaleigh; every shooting star they see afterward is a wish being granted. Annaleigh prepares her sisters for bedtime. As the stars sparkle, she recalls her childhood dream to oversee Old Maude. Camille, as the new Duchess (as Ortun is presumed dead), is busy reconstructing Highmoor Manor, and Lenore often visits with Hanna. Lenore has started talking again and considers traveling after the castle is finished.

After tucking her sisters into bed, Annaleigh walks to the sea. A shooting star soars overhead, and Cassius appears in the water. Annaleigh thinks she is dreaming, but he’s real. He embraces her, kissing her and promising he’s here to stay. The shooting star was his own wish—the same as hers—that they’d be reunited. They kiss once more.

Chapter 38-Epilogue Analysis

The theme of Layered Mysteries: Reality and Perception culminates in Morella’s early labor. Though Annaleigh’s family thinks her “mad,” they allow her to help with the labor due to her birthing expertise and friendship with Morella—these extreme circumstances lead to renewed loyalty. Annaleigh regains Camille’s trust by helping Morella and catching their stepmother in a lie. The reveal of Morella as Viscardi’s summoner clarifies the family’s undocumented deaths. Annaleigh and Camille are angered by Morella’s part in their mother’s and Eulalie’s deaths, but to their surprise, she allows Viscardi to kill her—as she has come to regret her actions and love the sisters. Without her empathy and intelligence, Annaleigh wouldn’t have been able to outsmart Kosamaras and Morella. Likewise, Morella proves more manipulative than she initially seemed, having killed Cecilia to take Ortun for herself. However, her bargain with Viscardi ultimately condemns Ortun, who presumably dies in the castle fire. The fire is framed as a final act of supernatural violence against the family, as people whose lives revolve around water. However, as expected of the remaining sisters, especially Camille, the new Duchess, they overcome this tragedy together. This healing is also reinforced by triplet Lenore breaking her trauma-induced silence.

Morella’s death officially ends her deal with Viscardi and dispels both his and Kosamaras’s illusions: Fisher is in fact dead, Cassius is real, and Verity was hidden away by Kosamaras. Annaleigh was always lucid, with Cassius’s talk of faraway lands helping her unravel the truth. She barely has time to process her mother’s and Eulalie’s deaths when Cassius nearly dies from saving Verity. However, Versia saves her demigod son, and he reunites with Annaleigh by the sea. In a final homage to “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” Annaleigh and Cassius find their happy ending as the chosen princess and clever soldier did—both having chosen each other through the same wish on a shooting star. Thus concludes the theme of Dark Retellings: Causes and Curses.