Melville Heights

Melville Heights is the primary backdrop of the novel. It is an affluent neighborhood in Bristol, a city in England. Melville Heights is particularly known for its "parade of houses" which pop "like a row of children's building blocks" amidst the otherwise "sodium gloom" of Lower Melville (8). Throughout Joey Mullen's life, she has always admired "this row of twenty-seven Victorian villas: the iconic painted houses of Melville Heights" (8, Jewell's italics). Having lived in the lower portion of the city throughout her childhood, however, Joey was only able to appreciate them from afar. Therefore, when her older brother Jack informs her that he and his wife Rebecca are moving to Melville Heights and want her and her new husband Alfie to move in with them, Joey is thrilled.

What feels like a dream come true, however, quickly turns sour when Joey fails to settle down and find stability...