Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of death by suicide, and physical and emotional abuse.

The protagonist of the novel, Sonya MacTavish is a 28-year-old graphic designer. She has long brown hair and the characteristic Poole green eyes inherited from her father’s birth family. Beautiful and talented, Sonya grew up in Boston with her father Drew and her mother Winter. Drew died in an accident when Sonya was a child. In Inheritance, the first book of the trilogy, Sonya’s life is turned around when she learns Drew had a twin brother, Collin Poole, who has left Poole Manor to Sonya.

Sonya’s journey throughout the novel is to reconcile herself with her newfound history through the haunted Poole Manor. Though Sonya has had a loving and sheltered upbringing, she takes the new changes in stride, proving she is flexible and adapts quickly. Sonya’s biggest strength is her courage. Once she decides to make the manor her home, she infers that the best way to defeat its evil spirit is through acting despite fear. Thus, even though the spirit, Hester Dobbs, tries to scare and harm Sonya on multiple occasions, she continues to “live and work and plan” (24).