The Mill House - Beckford

The Mill House is where Jules and Nel grew up, and eventually where Lena and Nel live until Nel’s death. The bulk of the story happens in the Mill House either in current time or in memory. After Nel dies, Jules moves in temporarily to help sort out her sister’s affairs. Jules describes it as “that old brown hulk of stone” and the minute she walks up to the steps she “heard the water and smelled the earth” (12, 13). There is an actual wheel attached to the house, though rotting, and from inside one can view the town’s old bridge above the river. Nel has decorated the interior with pictures of all kinds of bridges and water.

The Mill House is where Nel worked on her The Drowning Pool project. She and Sean first held their romantic trysts here until they met...