The Woman in Suite 11

In the time between The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Woman in Suite 11, Lo has two children: Eli and Teddy. She has stayed home to raise them, but now that they’ve reached kindergarten and pre-K, Lo is desperate to reestablish her career as a travel writer. She wants to change her children’s perceptions of mothers, have her work published again, and reclaim her professional identity.

As the novel begins, Lo is getting home from a job interview. This immediately establishes a tension between the domestic and public spheres. She has been “stuck at home with the kids for six fuckin’ years” (12). Lo is ready to spend more time with adults and get out of the house. However, she’s upset to see how messy the house became when Judah was in charge of the children while Lo was at the interview. She still wants to manage the household and monitor her children; she hasn’t learned to give up control yet.

Lo is aghast when she hears her children talk about their perceptions of mothers. Teddy tells her, “Mommies don’t have to work” (18). He has never seen her work; she has only been a stay-at-home mother during his short life. Lo is concerned because her actions as an individual represent all mothers and the idea of motherhood to her sons. The best way to change their minds is to start working again so that they can see a mother as someone who can balance both domestic and professional interests.

One major challenge Lo faces is that Rowan gives her the assignment based on Lo’s familiarity with Carrie rather than Lo’s professional reputation. When Rowan is willing to publish an interview by Lo with Marcus, Lo is initially elated. She’s “back. Back on the horse. And it [feels] good” (16). Before becoming a mother, Lo identified as a writer. She now wants to balance the two, and for Lo, working isn’t about the money since Judah makes enough to support them. She needs to work: “Need. Need was the right word. Not have to” (19). Being a writer is about feeling worthy and having multiple facets to her identity. In contrast to her elation at Rowan’s email, Lo is upset when she discovers why she was invited to the hotel to cover the launch event. She thinks, “I [am] here not because of who I [am], but because of who I [am] to Carrie. A reminder. A threat. A living, breathing blackmail note” (92). Lo doesn’t want to be used as a pawn to hurt someone; she wants to be invited to places because she’s a respected writer.

At the novel’s end, Lo writes her piece about the Leidmann Group for Rowan at the Financial Times. Her article’s success leads to her “getting regular requests from business outlets for my insider scoop” (384). She’s finally being contacted because of the quality of her work; she truly is back. This helps give her the courage to let others take care of her children. Lo realizes that they have fun with their grandmother: “[I]n all probability they weren’t crying out in the night for me but were happy as pigs in mud” (303). Rather than missing their mother, as Lo feared, Eli and Teddy are being spoiled. In addition, seeing Marcus’s abusive control of Carrie helps Lo release her desire for excessive control.

In the end, Lo learns to trust that her children will be fine even if she isn’t always there for them. More importantly, despite the reasons for the hotel assignment, her article earns her the accolades to reestablish her writing career.