Ben Guterson’s debut novel, Winterhouse (2018), is a middle grade fantasy mystery and the first installment in the Winterhouse trilogy. The story follows 11-year-old orphan Elizabeth Somers, an intelligent and avid reader who is sent away by her unkind guardians to spend Christmas break at the grand and mysterious Winterhouse Hotel. As she explores the hotel, Elizabeth discovers a hidden book and a family secret tied to the hotel’s history. In the process, she also uncovers her own latent magical abilities. The novel’s mystery plot is driven by the theme of Puzzle-Solving as Empowerment as Elizabeth uses her intellect to navigate her strange new environment. Through its central emotional arc, the narrative also explores themes including Magical Power as an Expression of Moral Character and Finding Belonging After Loss.

Winterhouse was selected as an Indie Next List Pick and was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. The success of the book led to two sequels, The Secrets of Winterhouse (2019) and The Winterhouse Mysteries (2020), which continue Elizabeth’s adventures at the hotel. Guterson has also authored another middle grade novel, The Einsteins of Vista Point (2022). Shortly after its publication, film rights for Winterhouse were acquired by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures.

This guide refers to the 2018 Square Fish edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of child abuse, emotional abuse, and death.

Plot Summary

When 11-year-old orphan Elizabeth Somers returns home from school for winter break, she finds that her unloving legal guardians, Aunt Purdy and Uncle Burlap, are away and have duct-taped an envelope to their front door. This contains a train ticket, instructions to take a bus to the Winterhouse Hotel, and a meager $3. As Elizabeth leaves, she experiences something she calls “the feeling”—a fluttery sensation of prescience accompanied by an unexplained physical phenomenon; the yard gate slams shut. On the long bus ride, she is unnerved by a strange couple dressed entirely in black: a man with cold, inquisitive eyes and a woman with an unsettling gaze. They are also headed to Winterhouse, bringing a large, coffin-like crate they claim is full of books. 

Arriving at the magnificent, castle-like hotel, Elizabeth meets a kind bellhop, Jackson, and the hotel’s eccentric proprietor, Norbridge Falls. Norbridge, a magician, welcomes her warmly and shows her around the wondrous hotel, which is filled with historical curiosities. During the tour, he offers Elizabeth a piece of “Flurschen,” the hotel’s signature candy, which tastes uncannily familiar to her. Norbridge makes the odd request that she check in with him or Jackson twice daily during her stay. Later that night, unable to sleep, Elizabeth explores and sees Norbridge sneaking through the massive library with a flashlight, as if searching for something. She also overhears the couple in black, Marcus and Selena Hiems, arguing with a bellhop as they try to gain access to the locked library.

The next morning, Elizabeth meets Freddy Knox, another child staying at Winterhouse alone. They quickly bond over their shared love for word puzzles, anagrams, and ciphers. Freddy is a budding inventor working on a project for Norbridge to turn waste walnut shells into compressed fire logs. Elizabeth also meets the hotel’s friendly librarian, Leona Springer, who gives her a tour of the impressive three-story library. Elizabeth’s pleasant explorations are interrupted by an encounter with Marcus Hiems, who gives her his bookseller business card and warns her that Norbridge is a “book thief,” hiding stolen volumes in the library. Freddy shows Elizabeth a permanently locked room that once belonged to Norbridge’s estranged twin sister, Gracella. As Elizabeth approaches the door, her “feeling” strikes again, and a glass light fixture falls from the ceiling, shattering just in front of her. Later, in the hotel’s portrait gallery, they find a coded message in the portrait of Nestor Falls, the hotel’s founder. While exploring the library’s reference room, Elizabeth’s “feeling” causes a door to bang open; inside, she discovers a jacketless old book hidden behind a row of others: A Guide for Children: Games, Secrets, Pastimes, and More by Riley Sweth Granger. Compelled by a strange intuition, she sneaks the book out of the library.

Elizabeth discovers that the book contains a chapter explaining the “Vigenère Cipher,” a complex code she realizes is the key to the message in Nestor’s portrait, although she and Freddy are unable to guess the correct keyword. Their investigation is interrupted late one night when they are discovered outside the library by Selena Hiems, just as Norbridge and Leona emerge from it. In Norbridge’s apartment, he explains the legend of “The Book,” a magical volume hidden in the library by Nestor’s friend. According to the legend, if discovered by someone good, The Book will ensure Winterhouse’s perpetual happiness, but in the wrong hands, it could be used to destroy the hotel. Norbridge says he has been searching for it due to a recurring premonition. Elizabeth suspects her stolen book is The Book, a suspicion that grows when she discovers that mysterious silver letters, invisible to Freddy, are appearing on its title page day by day. After learning more about Gracella’s fixation on dark magic and her threat to destroy Winterhouse, Elizabeth and Freddy go on a night ski trip to Gracella’s abandoned cabin. Elizabeth feels an inexplicable urge to call out Gracella’s name three times. A crimson light emerges from the cabin and chases them back to the hotel, stopping at a small bridge just outside the grounds. After this, Norbridge confines them to the hotel for their safety. Elizabeth returns to her room to find that A Guide for Children has been stolen.

Suspecting the Hiemses have stolen The Book, Elizabeth uses a master key from Freddy’s workshop to enter their room while they are out. Inside, she finds their large crate and a letter revealing that Selena Hiems is Gracella’s daughter. The crate contains Gracella’s body in a state of suspended animation. The letter explains that Gracella’s spirit has been liberated and is waiting to be reunited with her body, a process that requires the aid of a member of the Falls family. 

On New Year’s Eve, Elizabeth finds Norbridge and reveals everything. He seems not to grasp the immediate danger and asks her to wait in his apartment. There, her “feeling” strikes again, causing a plate to fall and shatter. She realizes the keyword for Nestor’s code is “Faith,” the word engraved on the necklace she has always worn. Decoding the message, she finds it is a poem presenting a choice between good and evil. In Norbridge’s bedroom, she also discovers a portrait of his daughter, Winifred “Winnie” Falls, wearing the same “Faith” necklace as Elizabeth. Elizabeth realizes Winnie was her mother, making Norbridge her grandfather. She and Freddy race to the library, where they find a resurrected Gracella holding Norbridge captive. Gracella reveals that Selena orchestrated Elizabeth’s arrival because her magical Falls lineage was needed to locate The Book and revive Gracella’s spirit.

Gracella, now holding A Guide for Children, tries to tempt Elizabeth with promises of power. As she closes in, Norbridge creates a distraction, and Elizabeth uses her own burgeoning magical ability to telekinetically pull The Book into her own hands. Clutching it, she shouts, “I CHOOSE THE GOOD!” (342). The crimson glow around Gracella vanishes, and she collapses to the floor, dead. In the aftermath, Norbridge, Elizabeth, Freddy, and Leona piece together the mystery. Norbridge confirms that Winnie was his daughter and Elizabeth’s mother; she fled Winterhouse years ago, fearing the dark legend of The Book, and he had lost all track of her, never knowing he had a granddaughter. The Hiemses vanish from the hotel without a trace, and The Book is returned to its hiding place. Norbridge promises Elizabeth that he will make arrangements for her to live at Winterhouse with him. Her final days at the hotel are filled with joy and the promise of a future return, once the guardianship can be arranged. As she boards the bus to go home, Norbridge gives her a wrapped book and tells her to “keep the faith” (368). On the ride, she reads the first line of the book, called The Secret of Northaven Manor; it tells of an 11-year-old girl investigating a mysterious mansion. Elizabeth feels sure that it will be “her kind of story” (370).