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The Circular Staircase · Character

Mary Anne

A servant in the household.

minor

Also known as Mary

First appearance: i i take a country house

Mary Anne shows up with force in XXII: A Ladder Out of Place. The page is where that presence becomes real.

The laundress reports finding a ladder in the clothes chute; she is nervous and admits to leaving a window open.
In the storyXXII: A Ladder Out of PlaceOpen this moment free

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In XXII: A Ladder Out of Place: The laundress reports finding a ladder in the clothes chute; she is nervous and admits to leaving a window…

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See Mary Anne in i i take a country house

Character Web

16 connections

A slice of how Mary Anne sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

MJMr. JamiesonWAWarnerSHSam HustonMGMatthew GeistRIRachel InnesMAMary Anne

Relationship types

  • Other

Character groups

  • Minor household servants
  • Central mystery characters
  • Peripheral witnesses and relatives
  • Protagonist

+11 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

SetupEscalationAftermathClimax
  • Setup
  • Escalation
  • Breaking point
  • Aftermath
  • Closing

In this excerpt, the emotional and psychological peak occurs when the narrator, for the first time in twenty y…

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In the story

Mary Anne appears across 1 companion beat. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Chapter companion notes

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See Mary Anne in i i take a country house
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