Nothing to See Here

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Lillian receives a letter from her friend Madison Roberts, inviting Lillian to visit Madison and her husband’s Tennessee home. Also enclosed are an ambiguous offer for “an interesting job opportunity” and money for travel (5). Lillian, who still lives at home and works as a grocery store cashier, snatches the opportunity, which she is confident will be an improvement.

A week after Lillian replies, Carl, one of the Roberts’ staff, collects Lillian from the train station in Nashville and drives her to the estate. On the journey, he mentions that Madison calls Lillian her “oldest friend,” which prompts Lillian to reflect on the strange nature of their relationship. Lillian met Madison when she (Lillian) transferred to a prestigious private girls’ school located on a mountain in Tennessee. Lillian, an impoverished resident of that mountain’s valley, received a scholarship for academic excellence: As a child, she was brilliant enough that her mother left the finances to her, but Lillian plagiarized her way through her studies and into the Iron Mountain Girls Preparatory School. Lillian’s mother was preoccupied with her many casual partners and showed little interest in her daughter attending the private institution. Rather, she cautioned Lillian that she would struggle and find the school intimidating. As a result, Lillian relied on former teachers’ charity to afford meals and school supplies.

When Lillian arrived on campus, she felt invisible—even unimportant. Madison, then Madison Billings, was her roommate and had already arranged their shared room to her liking. Lillian was in awe of Madison’s model-esque height, blonde hair, and perfect facial features. As they introduced themselves, Madison talked about her grand plans for the future, imagining becoming president, but Lillian had no such dreams. Madison sat close to Lillian as they talked, making her think Madison intended to kiss her, which Lillian was desperate for her to do.

The girls formed a friendship, mostly within the walls of their room. Both girls played on the school’s basketball team, but Madison spent the rest of her time eating and partying with other friends. After nights out, Madison would return home intoxicated and under the influence of the cocaine she and those friends regularly purchased. This eventually got Madison in trouble when one of her friends, upset at a joke, reported Madison to the dorm parent. The headmistress summoned Madison’s parents, and her father, Mr. Billings, took his daughter and Lillian out to dinner. Lillian was surprised to see her mother also in attendance. After an uncomfortable dinner where Madison avoided Lillian’s glances, Mr. Billings offered Lillian’s mother $10,000 in exchange for Lillian taking the fall for the cocaine possession. He felt his daughter had more to lose and argued that the school was unlikely to do more than suspend Lillian. Lillian’s mother greedily accepted the money despite her daughter’s pleas.

Lillian returned to the school and packed her meager belongings in anticipation of expulsion. The girls spent the final night the way they had spent many others, sleeping together in Lillian’s bed. Madison whispered that Lillian was her “best friend.” Even as Lillian hated Madison, she found that she still loved her. The next day Lillian was expelled and returned to her former high school. She spent the rest of her time there as an apathetic student, feeling “good for nothing” (15). She started cleaning houses with her mother after school, hanging out with troubled students, and smoking weed to make her life tolerable. A few months after the expulsion, Madison sent Lillian a letter talking about boys and how much she missed her. This was the first of many letters, though they never discussed the incident between them.

Returning to the present, Lillian describes the sprawling Roberts estate: The lengthy driveway looks “[…] like it would lead you straight to the gates of heaven” (18). Lillian imagines Madison sitting in luxury and reading letters Lillian wrote detailing the trivialities of her life. These reveries are common for Lillian, who has spent much of the intervening period fantasizing about Madison’s life. When she arrives at a large white house with a wraparound porch, Lillian is briefly paralyzed by the intensity of the moment. She and Madison then embrace and enter the home.

While sitting together and reacquainting themselves, Lillian again feels like she and Madison will kiss. The conversation shifts to the job offer and to Madison’s husband, Jasper Roberts, who is a United States senator for Tennessee. The job, which is a “very private” matter, involves caring for Jasper’s two children from a previous marriage. Senator Roberts and Madison met when she worked on his reelection campaign shortly after she graduated college. It was not long after leaving his wife and children that he fell in love with Madison. Her speechwriting and campaign management was pivotal to his success, and they later married and had a son, Timothy. Jane, Jasper’s ex-wife and the children’s mother, recently died and left Jasper responsible for his children’s care. The issue is that Jasper is being vetted for secretary of state, and his 10-year-old twins, Bessie and Roland, have a secret “affliction” that could jeopardize his chances. Lillian jokes about them killing a kitten or being mole people, but Madison eventually confesses that if agitated “[…] they can just catch fire” (24). This intrigues Lillian, who is relieved to hear the children are never harmed by the flames. The Roberts are confident the gene came from Jane’s family, and Madison is proud of Jasper for “stepping up” to take care of the children.

Madison reminds Lillian of the abjectness of her life to persuade Lillian to accept the offer, which angers Lillian. Still, Lillian agrees to care for the children “twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week” over the summer (25), living in a small guest house outfitted to house the children. Madison insists Lillian stay the night, arguing that she need not return home at all. The staff makes Lillian dinner, and Madison promises to take her shopping the next day for anything she needs or desires.

Chapter 2 Summary

In the morning, Lillian telephones her mother to inform her that she will not be returning. Her mother is unconcerned and shows only mild surprise at Madison’s “unnecessary kindness” to Lillian after all these years. At breakfast, Lillian meets Madison’s son Timothy, who has the same striking beauty as his mother. She finds his distracted greeting as muted and strange as he seems to be. There is also something “unnatural” about the three-year-old’s features, particularly his cartoonishly massive blue eyes. Lillian also meets Mary, another member of the household staff—Madison is at pains to stress that these are employees and not servants—who prepares and serves breakfast.

After eating, Madison takes Timothy to daycare, leaving Lillian to tour the grounds alone. She attempts to eat the remains of Madison’s breakfast, but Mary scolds her for eating scraps and prepares Lillian a meal of her own. Mary answers Lillian’s questions about Bessie and Roland’s demeanor, describing them as wild but sweet “[…] in a good way” (31). As she explores, Lillian ends up in a billiards room, where she cannot resist hiding a pool ball in an ice bucket. From there she goes to the house she will share with the twins. It is a wooden, double-story guest house, brightly painted and equipped with a “complicated sprinkler system” and smoke detectors (32). Carl suddenly appears, startling Lillian but promising he is only there to help should she “[…] run into unforeseen problems” (34). He half-jokingly shows her a closet filled with fire extinguishers, which (thanks to fire safety and CPR training) Lillian knows how to use. Madison arrives soon after, and she and Lillian set out for the mall.

At a Billings store—one owned by Madison’s family—Madison instructs Lillian to select items for a new wardrobe. She chooses jeans and T-shirts, thinking she wouldn’t miss them should they catch fire, as well as other athleisure wear, underwear, and some shoes, including some pricey sneakers. Madison selects a dress, “sexy lingerie,” and perfume, sending Lillian away while she has the items processed and bagged. On the drive home, while marveling at Madison’s effortless control of the vehicle, Lillian asks about whether Madison loves Jasper. He is handsome despite his age, and Madison “guesses” she loves him: She says that she likes that he eschews gauche Southern stereotypes and is “flawed but […] principled” (36).

Back at the house, Timothy wordlessly leads Lillian to his room to see his stuffed animals. He lines up the toys, which all have human names, and invites her to choose “the best one” (37). She chooses a panda, Bruce, which pleases Timothy intensely. It reminds Lillian of the way she played with dolls as a child and her mother’s confusion and disgust upon seeing her imagination at work. This helps her to connect with Timothy and understand his strangeness. Jasper soon arrives, and Timothy can barely contain his excitement, happiness “radiating” from his frame.

Following a brief introduction, Jasper requests an early dinner, which the group eats together. Madison then leads everyone across the compound to a basketball court. Jasper and Timothy watch, catching fireflies, while Lillian and Madison shoot baskets until Timothy’s bath time. On the walk back, Jasper expresses his gratitude for Lillian’s willingness to take the job and his regret at not being a better father before. Madison jokes that if he is successful with the secretary of state job, he may eventually become the president. Awkwardly, he insists his focus is on the “more important things” in the present (42).

Chapters 1-2 Analysis

Lillian Breaker tells the story from her first-person perspective. Lillian is also the story’s protagonist, but with the way she talks about Madison Roberts, one could easily mistake which character is more central. Lillian hurries over the description of her own humdrum life, seemingly trying to skip to the good part—that is, Madison. This is because Lillian’s life is an undeniably unhappy one, which makes her decision to abandon everything within a week of receiving the mere suggestion of a better opportunity seem a logical one. Her life has always been difficult, as is evidenced by her low-income upbringing and her tenuous relationship with her mother. Lillian’s academic success seemed to present a pathway to a less disadvantaged future, but what should have been a celebrated achievement was instead a reminder of her inadequacies: Her mother’s persistent condescension negatively affected Lillian’s self-worth. Coming from a background where her only support came from teachers, meeting and befriending Madison was like finding a haven.

Madison’s remarkable beauty and magnetism hypnotized Lillian; even 15 years later, she devotes detailed descriptions of her friend’s physical attributes. Initially, this level of attraction appears romantic; Lillian describes a yearning to kiss Madison within moments of meeting her. It is unclear whether Madison felt (or feels) the same desires, but the two girls spent many nights sleeping together in the same bed. Whatever the nature of this relationship, it remained a closeted one, as Madison lived a completely separate life outside their room. Lillian’s unconditional—even obsessive—love for Madison is key to understanding many of the decisions Lillian will make as the story progresses.

The scene where Mr. Billings pays off Lillian’s mother demonstrates the wealth and power that Madison stands to inherit and provides insight into the amorality that influences her character. Although she seems ashamed of her father’s actions, Madison does nothing to intervene both because she is resolute in her plans for success and because there is nothing she can do to stop what her father has put into motion. It is still an enormous betrayal that would end most friendships, but even though Lillian is furious, her love for Madison is absolute. It is this same love that keeps her replying to Madison’s letters for years and eventually seizing the opportunity that lands her at the Roberts’ estate.

Lillian’s first descriptions of the Roberts’ mansion construct the physical setting within which much of the following chapters will unfold. The passage outlines the scale of Jasper Roberts’s wealth and the significance of his family’s position in the South. For someone like Lillian, it is an entirely new and overwhelming world. Despite all this, nothing is more amazing than setting eyes on Madison again. Lillian’s brief moment of paralysis demonstrates that adult Madison has grown into an even more powerful presence (or perhaps it is Lillian who remains incurably drawn to her). Much of this scene mirrors their first meeting in the dorm room, as Lillian is taken in by Madison’s features and again longs to kiss her.

Madison is now a loving mother and supportive wife to her husband and his children. Considering the combined resources at Jasper and Madison’s disposal, Lillian seems a strange choice for this caretaker job. However, Madison needs someone who is devoted to her, in need of money, and trustworthy enough to keep the children’s secret. There are limits to this trust, however, as Madison is unwilling to let Lillian leave after telling her about the children’s “condition.” She disguises what is essentially confinement by taking Lillian shopping for new and expensive items. By displaying her wealth, Madison is manipulating Lillian’s decision-making, even about the clothing she wants. This is a tactic similar to Madison’s father’s, and it is one of many instances of the Billings/Roberts families using wealth and power to shape the world to their will— something that Wilson will critique as Nothing to See Here progresses.

Chapter 2 introduces Madison’s son, Timothy. Lillian’s first impressions of Timothy are notable because she describes him as “unnatural”; this hints that he is not a typical child and foreshadows his similarity to Bessie and Roland. There is an unspecified strangeness that Lillian picks up on, perhaps because she has her own oddities, which surface during her tour of the house. The maneuver with the ball, for example, reveals that Lillian enjoys disruption and subtle acts of rebellion. Through this action, she imposes some of her chaos on the orderliness of the Roberts’ perfect white mansion. More crucially, it lays the groundwork for the camaraderie that develops between her and Bessie and Roland. A similar dynamic emerges when Lillian is playing with Timothy. Here, there are more obvious signs of his eccentricities, like the way he silently summons her and his unusually stiff names for his toys. Lillian sees something of herself and her childhood in him, which triggers a flashback. The revulsion Lillian’s mother felt towards her when she was a young child indicates her mother’s apathy preceded Lillian’s Iron Mountain days.

Another notable feature of Chapter 1 is the introduction of the concept of combusting children. The characters treat this fact with surprising casualness, bringing an element of absurdist humor to the novel. By underscoring the ridiculousness of his own premise, Wilson directs readers away from any deep analyses of the logic of the twins’ condition. This is pivotal to readers suspending disbelief and allowing themselves to be immersed in this world.