Want to learn the ideas in Housekeeping better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
Video Summaries of Housekeeping
We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Housekeeping, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Marilynne Robinson.
1-Page Summary of Housekeeping
Overall Summary
Ruth, a woman who is now an adult, looks back on her childhood. After Helen commits suicide and Ruth and Lucille go live with their grandmother Sylvia Foster in Idaho, they’re passed around to various relatives until Sylvie finally takes them in. She’s eccentric and odd but also likeable despite being mysterious about her past. When the girls worry that she will leave them just as everyone else did when they were younger, it bonds them together during a flood that hits Fingerbone where they live.
Two sisters, Ruth and Lucille, skip school almost every day to spend time at a lake. The lake is where their grandfather died in an accident and their mother committed suicide. Sylvie helps the girls with their truancy instead of scolding them because she doesn’t want to let go of her friendship with them. As a result, Ruth begins to sense that her sister longs for more normal friends.
Lucille and Sylvie develop a strong friendship over the summer. Lucille, however, begins to ask Sylvie increasingly personal questions about her past that she doesn’t want to answer. She also grows frustrated with some of Sylvie’s embarrassing habits such as sleeping on park benches and keeping her shoes under the pillows when she sleeps. As this happens, Lucille starts inventing false memories of their mother in order to cope with losing her. Eventually they have a huge fight because Lucille wants to spend time with friends from school while Sylvie tries hard to keep them together despite being busy at work all day long. When they return for another year at school, things get worse between them as Lucille stops spending much time with Ruth entirely and moves out of the house after coming home early one night and finding Sylvie asleep next to Ruth in bed instead of herself.
The day after her aunt leaves, Ruth is woken up early by Sylvie so that they can go on an adventure. They take a neighbor’s boat and row to the middle of the lake, where they find a secret valley. The sun warms it up, and Ruth becomes lost in thought while she waits for Sylvie to return. She fears that Sylvie has abandoned her again as she did when Lucille left them earlier in the summer. When Sylvie returns, she finds Ruth disoriented and crying, but quickly hurries her off the island and back into their boat. They float around until sunrise before climbing onto a train bridge at the center of town and riding home on freight trains all night long.
As the rumors of Sylvie and Ruth’s trip spread throughout town, the sheriff and other neighbors become concerned for Ruth’s well-being. They visit her home to check on her but find it in a state of disrepair because Sylvie has been hoarding magazines and newspapers. Mice have also taken over the house because she hasn’t been keeping up with maintenance. When they realize that there is a court hearing scheduled to determine whether or not Sylvie will be allowed to continue being Ruth’s caregiver, they clean up the house and try to make themselves look presentable as possible. However, even after this change, everyone knows that Fingerbone fears transience (the act of moving from one place to another) and that both women are doomed (unfortunately destined).
One night, Ruth and Sylvie start a fire in their backyard. They burn old newspapers and magazines, then hide from each other in the orchard. When the sheriff comes by to check on them, Sylvie is forced to admit that Ruth has hidden away there. The sheriff takes Ruth back home with him for the night. She screams no when he offers her a place to stay at his house for more than one night. After they put out the fire in their house, they run across a bridge over a lake and leave Fingerbone forever together. For seven years after leaving Fingerbone, they travel around North America visiting friends of Sylvie’s who are always welcoming towards them both equally despite being sisters instead of just friends like most people would be if found two girls traveling alone without any family members or guardians accompanying them wherever they go all over North America constantly staying with different friends every time not knowing what city or town they’ll end up living in next never looking back towards Fingerbone because it was too painful for both of them trying hard not to think about Lucille anymore wondering where she is now whether she stayed behind after burning down their house whether she moved somewhere else far away from Fingerbone searching everywhere but never finding her sister again even though it hurts so much thinking about her sister everyday wanting desperately to find her sister once again missing Lucille terribly wishing that things could’ve been different between them before everything happened feeling guilty knowing how badly hurt Lucille must feel still waiting for some kind of sign as well as forgiveness knowing full well that Lucile will never forgive either one of them ever again
