The setting of Hannah Orenstein’s Maine Characters is Fox Hill, Maine, a fictional location that Orenstein created for her fourth novel, Meant to Be Mine. Fox Hill and its lake are designed to evoke the classic ambiance of summertime in Maine, and the state itself has long been touted as an idyllic place where families go to spend quality time together, celebrate the warm weather, and escape the outside world. 

In fact, Maine’s tourism industry routinely promotes the state’s 6,000 lakes and ponds as the primary draw for tourists and locals alike. In addition to being vital to the state’s wildlife, these lakes are portrayed as offering visitors real opportunities for self-reflection. A 1989 report detailing the results of the Maine Lakes Study even capitalizes on this image by quoting the famed naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau, who observed, “A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the earth’s eye, looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature” (“Maine’s Finest Lakes.” Maine). Orenstein’s attempts to invoke this link between the Maine landscape and the power of inward contemplation become evident as Vivian, Lucy, and their mothers use the setting to assess their priorities and be fully honest with one another. In short, the setting of Maine Characters is integral to the development of its protagonists.

Even before the novel’s climactic moments, this pattern is shown in the initial descriptions of Fox Hill’s “lush” scenery and its lake’s “sapphire waters.” As Vivian goes for a run between the “emerald forest” and the “sun-dappled water [that] glitters,” she notes a “brilliant orange monarch” flapping against the “aquamarine sky” (42). These deliberate gemstone metaphors convey her sense of the place’s value as both a financial investment and a form of refuge and emotional safety. Through these idyllic descriptions, the novel itself becomes a “love letter to lake life” in Maine (“Hannah Orenstein | Welcome to Fox Hill, Maine.” Fresh Fiction, 14 May 2025).