What am I reading? "The Housemaid"
With filming starting for the 2022 novel "The Housemaid" starring Sydney Sweeney, I was intrigued by this New York Times best seller and I can say it's worth the hype. Check my thoughts and recs out!
In the world of fiction, if a character feels like the walls are closing in on her and an opportunity comes along that seems too good to be true, then it’s her happy ending and nothing goes astray… right? This dilemma is how Freida McFadden’s 2022 thriller “The Housemaid” begins.
“The Housemaid” is currently No. 3 on the New York Times best sellers list for combined print and E-book fiction, reaching 79 weeks on the list. If you’re wondering what’s keeping the book in the front lines years after its release, it might be the recent start of filming for its movie adaptation.
The film is set to be released Dec. 25, 2025, and it stars Sydney Sweeney alongside Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. Filming began on Jan. 3 in New Jersey, and online sources said it is set to wrap on Feb. 14. Filmmaker Paul Feig is taking on this psychological thriller for Lionsgate, with his background of directing “Bridesmaids” and “A Simple Favor.”
With all the buzz around the book itself and now the movie adaptation, here’s what you need to know. And if you can’t get enough of the novel, here are a few similar recommendations with edgy twists.
What’s “The Housemaid” about?
As the book opens, Millie Calloway is anxiously interviewed by Nina Winchester for the position of a live-in housemaid. The most polished and pristine house she has ever seen, she wonders how this unemployed mother of one needs help in the first place. The only flaw was the creepy single, small room in the attic she would have to live in that strangely only locks from the outside. But Millie is desperate, so she hopes this works out, provided that Nina doesn’t find out about her past.”
Illegally living out of her car and surviving off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Millie receives a call from Nina and she is offered a full-time, live-in position as the housemaid for the Winchesters. It’s her lifeline and she cannot let this opportunity escape.
Determined to do the best job she can, she scrubs the house, prepares elegant meals and watches over the Winchester’s daughter, Cecelia. But suddenly, Nina is not the person she once presented as. Instead of a neat kitchen, there’s food thrown everywhere. Instead of a calm temper, Nina harasses Millie and accuses her of stealing her notes. It doesn’t matter what Nina says, Millie needs to stay in their good graces.
Millie’s erratic mood swings and accusations do not falter, and it becomes harder and harder to please her. It’s a good thing Andrew Winchester is so kind, but Millie cannot understand how a kind (and handsome) man could be with this woman.
Rumors circulate about Nina’s past of mental health issues, where apparently she put her daughter Cecelia in danger and tried to overdose on pills herself. Something doesn’t feel right. What makes it worse is how she can’t stop thinking about Andrew and finds herself slipping into inappropriate thoughts about her employer.
Just as Millie thinks she’s starting to get the hang of what to do, the readers find out nothing is as it seems and maybe Nina isn’t who Millie should be so scared of.
What’s the twist in “The Housemaid”?
Now, let me give you the spoiler warning. Broken down into three parts, the second section of the novel is where readers discover the motive for Nina’s erratic behavior and who the real villain is.
Switching to Nina’s point of view, she shares her love story with her husband. Andrew was a man who took a secretary, Nina, out for lunch and swooned her into falling in love with him. But as soon as they got married and she moved in with him, his true dark side came forward.
One day, he called out the dark roots growing in on Nina’s head, reminding her to book a highlight appointment for her hair. Taken as a gentle reminder, Nina didn’t think anything of it and definitely didn’t get suspicious when he soon asked her to head to the attic and grab a book he left up there. When she went to grab the book he claimed to have left in the room’s closet, all she saw was a bucket. Then, she heard the door close behind her. It had to have been a mistake right? Wrong. Andrew locked her in the room as punishment for grown-out hair. He said hair is a privilege and he believed that she needed to be taught a lesson for forgetting that. The lesson was taught by pulling 100 strands of hair out of her head. He repeated the process because he said there were not enough strands
When she was finally released, Andrew set up a scene to ensure Nina lost all credibility if she ever tried to share what happened to her. He drugged Nina and Cecelia, and placed Cecelia in a bathtub with rising water. Andrew called 911 to make it seem like Nina was attempting to commit suicide and take her daughter’s life. Nina was sent to a psychiatric facility after sharing the completely unbelievable story about her husband locking her in the attic. After months of therapy, she started to believe she was crazy.
But when she went home, she discovered once again she truly did marry a monster. Being locked in the attic became their new normal. Whenever Nina did something wrong in Andrew’s eyes, she was sent to the attic as punishment and had to perform acts to “learn her lesson.”
So, Nina created a plan to free herself and Cecelia from Andrew’s control. That plan centered around their new housemaid, Millie, falling in love with Andrew and becoming her replacement. And this plan worked perfectly, with the help of the gardener Enzo.
Everyone loves a revenge arc and Millie makes sure that Andrew gets what’s coming to him. When Andrew locks Millie in her room for leaving books out and not cleaning up after herself, she plots how to free herself and punish him for his crimes as she has to lay down with three heavy books on her stomach for hours. Millie’s dark background is revealed as she has defended herself and others from predators in the past, which Nina decided made Millie the perfect replacement because Nina knew Millie could defend herself and maybe even kill Andrew.
With the pepper spray Millie found in the bucket that Nina left behind in case Andrew ever tried anything, Millie attacks Andrew and locks him in the attic. She then walks Andrew through his own punishments, painful and gruesome.She forces him to lie with the heavy books on his groin for multiple hours and later requests that he pull out his own teeth.
Nina returns home with a guilty conscience to save Millie, but finds Millie has already taken care of Andrew and he’s dead in the attic. When the cops are called, Nina decides to take the fall. She claims she was simply out of town and Andrew must have gotten locked up there. Just when all the walls start closing in— why is he missing teeth, and why does he have bruises on his groin — the main police officer reveals he is the father of Andrew’s ex-fiance. He knows the truth of who Andrew is and decides to help them cover up the murder.
At the funeral, Nina expects Andrew’s mother to be suspicious with her power in the town and with the police, but she’s greeted with sympathy. Just when Nina thinks she is in the clear, Andrew’s mother confesses she saw the police report and says, “I always told him how important dental hygiene is. I told him he had to brush every night, and when he didn’t, there would be a punishment. There’s always a punishment when you break the rules.”
Left in pure shock, Nina listens as Andrew’s mother finishes her thought, “It’s such a shame, that he never really learned. I’m glad you stepped up and taught him a lesson.”
Books similar to “The Housemaid”
Can’t get enough of “The Housemaid”? As we wait for the movie’s release at the end of the year, stop by your local bookstore to pick up these thrillers that pack twists you would never see coming.
Behind Closed Doors, B.A. Paris
A thriller released in 2016, “Behind Closed Doors” follows the story of the “perfect” couple of Grace and Jack Angel. Even as they seem like newlyweds who are deeply in love, their inspiration starts to raise some questions. Why does Grace never answer her phone? Why can Grace never meet for coffee last minute and alone even though she doesn’t work? How can she eat so much and remain so slim? The more you think about this “perfect” pair, the more questions are erased about what happens inside the home.
Verity, Colleen Hoover
When Lowen Ashleigh is offered the opportunity to finish writing a book started by the famous author Verity Crawford, who recently experienced an injury leaving her unable to write, from Verity’s husband, she decides to take it. Moving into the Crawford’s home, she begins researching Verity’s book and notes about and stumbles upon a book that appears like an autobiography. What is the truth? Who can she trust? The 2021 novel “Verity” will leave you with countless questions.
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson was once a renowned painter who seemed to have it all and a loving husband, Gabriel, to top it all off. But one night, she shoots Gabriel in the face five times and refuses to speak another word. “The Silent Patient” follows the perspective of Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, who is obsessed with Alicia’s case and believes he can help her to speak and maybe finally confess why she did it.