Warren University

Warren is a fictional East Coast writing college, described by Samantha as “The most experimental, groundbreaking writing school in the country (106)." Its experimental ethos is frequently the object of the author's subtle scorn, as alarming incidents like Caroline's self-mutilation and Samantha's abduction by the Hybrids are taken for performance art. The campus is described in bucolic terms: "tall old buildings, the ornately spiked gates, the endless stretch of carefully manicured perfumed green teeming with bright-eyed squirrels and rabbits, the students walking here and there, discussing Derrida, their hair kissed by September light" (19). There is also a pond on campus that houses a swan; this is where Samantha first conjures her imaginary friend, Ava, and where the novel ends with Samantha cementing her new friendship with Jonah.

The surrounding town (Providence)

The East Coast town where Warren is located is implied to be Providence, Rhode Island, as Samantha...