Storms and Scandals Begin

St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, is a place where hurricanes are as much a part of life as the sugar-white sands and the old Rosalie Inn. The town's history is marked by storms that have claimed lives and left scars, both physical and emotional. The story opens with a magazine writer interviewing locals about the storms, setting the tone of dread and inevitability. The town's resilience is tested not just by nature, but by the secrets and scandals that swirl in its wake—most notably, the infamous death of Landon Fitzroy, the governor's son, during Hurricane Marie in 1984. The unresolved questions around his death, and the trial of his teenage mistress, Lo Bailey, have become part of the town's uneasy truce with disaster.

The Rosalie's Legacy

Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, struggles to keep her family's legacy afloat. The inn, a survivor of every major storm, is now threatened by financial ruin and dwindling guests. Geneva's life is a tangle of responsibility, regret, and nostalgia, haunted by her mother's decline into dementia and the loss of her father. The Rosalie is more than a business—it's a symbol of survival, a place where the past lingers in every creaking floorboard and faded photograph. Geneva's connection to the inn is both a comfort and a burden, as she faces the possibility of losing the only home she's ever known.

Lo Bailey Returns Home

Gloria "Lo" Bailey, once the most beautiful girl in town and now infamous for her alleged role in Landon Fitzroy's death, returns to St. Medard's Bay after decades away. She arrives with August Fletcher, a journalist eager to write her memoir and uncover the truth behind the scandal. Lo's presence stirs up old gossip and unresolved tensions, especially as she reconnects with Geneva, whose mother was once her closest friend. Lo is both a symbol of the town's dark history and a catalyst for confronting the secrets that have festered for years.

The Governor's Son Affair

Through flashbacks and confessions, the story of Lo and Landon's affair unfolds. Landon, the charismatic but troubled son of Alabama's governor, is drawn to Lo's beauty and wildness. Their relationship is passionate but fraught, shadowed by Landon's marriage to the elegant Alison and his father's political ambitions. Lo's youth and vulnerability are exploited, and the affair becomes a powder keg of jealousy, betrayal, and longing. The night of Hurricane Marie, everything comes to a head, setting the stage for tragedy.

Hurricane Marie's Aftermath

Landon is found dead on the beach after the storm, his head bashed in, and suspicion immediately falls on Lo. The investigation is muddied by the chaos of the hurricane, conflicting testimonies, and the powerful Fitzroy family's desire for justice—or vengeance. Lo's trial becomes a media circus, painting her as both a temptress and a killer. The jury is deadlocked, and Lo is released, but the stain of suspicion never leaves her. The town, and Lo herself, are left to grapple with the ambiguity of guilt and innocence.

True Crime Obsession

Decades later, the case still fascinates outsiders. August Fletcher, a writer with his own hidden motives, arrives to dig into the story for a book. Geneva, desperate for money, welcomes the attention, even as she fears what old wounds might be reopened. The narrative weaves together past and present, as August interviews locals, sifts through old clippings, and becomes entangled in the lives of Geneva, Lo, and Edie—the inn's enigmatic assistant manager. The line between truth and myth blurs as everyone seeks their own version of closure.

The Witches' Pact

In their youth, Lo, Geneva's mother Ellen, and Frieda (now known as Edie) called themselves the "Witches of St. Medard's Bay," bound by friendship and a sense of magical protection against the storms. But their bond was fractured by tragedy—first by the death of Frieda's family in a hurricane, then by the love triangle with Landon. The witches' pact becomes a metaphor for the ways women support and betray each other, and how shared secrets can both save and destroy.

Secrets in the Attic

As August's investigation intensifies, Geneva is drawn into her own quest for the truth. She discovers a box of her mother's hidden clippings about Landon, Lo, and the trial, raising questions about her mother's past and her own identity. The attic becomes a symbol of buried memories and generational trauma. Geneva's sense of self is shaken as she uncovers evidence that her family history is not what she believed.

Edie's Hidden Past

Edie, the inn's loyal assistant, is revealed to be Frieda, the third witch. Her past is marked by loss and resentment—she blames Lo for the reckless choices that led to her family's death in a storm. Edie's testimony at Lo's trial was pivotal, and her silence since then has been a form of self-protection. The revelation of her identity forces Geneva to confront the ways the past continues to shape the present, and how forgiveness is both necessary and elusive.

The Journalist's Inheritance

August's obsession with the case is revealed to be personal: a DNA test has shown that he is Landon Fitzroy's son, the product of another affair. His quest for truth is driven by a need to understand his own origins and to confront the woman he believes robbed him of a father. The tangled web of paternity, legacy, and revenge brings the story's themes of inheritance and identity to a boiling point.

Blood on the Porch

As a new hurricane—Lizzie—approaches, tensions at the inn reach a breaking point. Edie is found gravely injured, and suspicion falls on Lo. The storm outside mirrors the storm within, as old resentments and secrets erupt into violence. Geneva, caught between loyalty and fear, must decide whom to trust as the past threatens to destroy them all.

The Truth Unravels

In the chaos of the hurricane, the truth about Landon's death finally comes out. Lo confesses to killing him, but the story is more complicated than anyone realized—Ellen, Geneva's mother, was also involved, and Edie witnessed the aftermath. The murder was an act of desperation, born of betrayal and heartbreak, and the cover-up was a collective act of survival. The revelation forces all three women to reckon with their choices and the cost of keeping secrets.

Hurricane Lizzie Strikes

As Lizzie batters the Rosalie, the characters are trapped together, their fates intertwined. The storm is both literal and symbolic—a reckoning for decades of lies, guilt, and longing. In the eye of the hurricane, Geneva, Lo, and August confront each other with the raw, painful truth. The violence that began in the past is repeated, and the cycle of trauma threatens to claim a new victim.

Death and Confession

In the storm's climax, August attacks Lo, seeking vengeance for his father's death. Geneva intervenes, and in the chaos, August is killed—an accident, but one that echoes the violence of the past. The storm destroys much of the inn, but Geneva and Lo survive, bound together by the truth and by their refusal to let the past define them. The confession of what really happened to Landon is both a burden and a release.

After the Storm

In the aftermath, Geneva, Lo, and Edie (now reconciled) begin to rebuild their lives and the Rosalie. The truth about Landon's death and the tangled web of relationships is kept between them, a secret that is both protective and redemptive. The town moves on, the scandal fades, but the women are changed—stronger, sadder, and more honest. The Rosalie stands as a testament to survival, and the women who remain are its true legacy.

The Women Left Standing

The story ends with Geneva, Lo, and Edie sitting together on the beach, reflecting on the storms they've weathered—literal and metaphorical. They are the survivors, the witches, the keepers of secrets and the builders of new futures. The past cannot be undone, but it can be understood, and in that understanding, there is hope. The Rosalie Inn, battered but unbroken, is a symbol of the resilience of women and the power of truth.

Characters

Geneva Corliss

Geneva is the current steward of the Rosalie Inn, burdened by family legacy, financial woes, and the slow loss of her mother to dementia. She is practical, loyal, and deeply tied to her hometown, yet restless and yearning for answers about her past. Geneva's journey is one of self-discovery: as she uncovers her mother's secrets and her own true parentage, she must reconcile the comforting myths of her childhood with the painful realities of adulthood. Her relationships—with Lo, Edie, and August—force her to confront the complexities of love, loyalty, and forgiveness. Geneva's arc is about claiming agency over her story and finding strength in vulnerability.

Gloria "Lo" Bailey

Lo is the magnetic center of the novel—a woman whose beauty and charisma have always drawn both adoration and suspicion. As a teenager, she was swept up in a scandalous affair with Landon Fitzroy, and later accused of his murder. Lo is both victim and perpetrator, shaped by the town's judgment and her own impulsive choices. Her return to St. Medard's Bay is an attempt at redemption, but also a reckoning with the past. Lo's psychological complexity lies in her ability to charm and manipulate, to be both fiercely honest and deeply self-deluding. Her confession is an act of liberation, but also a final claim to her own narrative.

August Fletcher

August is a journalist whose professional curiosity masks a personal vendetta. Discovering he is Landon Fitzroy's illegitimate son, he becomes obsessed with the story of his father's death and the women involved. August is intelligent, driven, and increasingly unstable as his quest for truth becomes entangled with his need for belonging and revenge. His relationship with Geneva is fraught with attraction, rivalry, and the shared trauma of being Landon's children. August's arc is a cautionary tale about the dangers of obsession and the destructive power of unresolved grief.

Edie Vargas / Frieda Mason

Edie, formerly Frieda, is the inn's tough, no-nonsense assistant manager, hiding a painful past. As a child, she survived a hurricane that killed her family, an event she blames on Lo's recklessness. Her testimony at Lo's trial was both an act of self-preservation and a betrayal of friendship. Edie's psychological landscape is marked by survivor's guilt, anger, and a longing for connection. Her eventual reconciliation with Lo and Geneva is hard-won, a testament to the possibility of healing even the deepest wounds.

Ellen Chambers Corliss

Ellen is a quiet, intelligent woman whose life is defined by duty and sacrifice. Her friendship with Lo and Frieda was the foundation of her youth, but her affair with Landon and the resulting pregnancy set off a chain of secrets that shaped the next generation. Ellen's decline into dementia is both a literal and symbolic erasure of the past, but her hidden box of clippings and the bracelet she leaves behind are clues to her true story. Ellen embodies the costs of silence and the burden of protecting others at the expense of oneself.

Landon Fitzroy

Landon is the golden boy whose charm and ambition mask a deep selfishness and inability to commit. His relationships with Lo, Ellen, and other women are marked by manipulation and a sense of entitlement. Landon's death is the central mystery, but his life is a study in the dangers of unchecked privilege and the collateral damage of male desire. He is both victim and perpetrator, loved and resented by those he leaves behind.

Beau Fitzroy

The governor of Alabama and Landon's father, Beau is a force of nature in his own right. His ambition for his son and his need to control the narrative of Landon's death drive much of the story's external conflict. Beau's inability to accept loss or ambiguity makes him both a tragic and antagonistic figure, emblematic of the destructive power of legacy and reputation.

Alison Carleton-Fitzroy

Landon's wife, a former beauty queen, is a peripheral but significant presence. Her grace and dignity contrast with Lo's wildness, and her infertility is a source of pain and resentment. Alison represents the women who are collateral damage in the ambitions and betrayals of powerful men.

Beth-Anne Bailey

Beth-Anne is a practical, resilient woman who endures abuse, loss, and the judgment of her community. Her own act of violence—killing her husband during a hurricane—mirrors the generational cycle of trauma and survival. Beth-Anne's love for Lo is fierce but complicated, and her legacy is one of both protection and pain.

Camile Fitzroy

Landon's sister, Camile, is the genetic link that reveals Geneva's true parentage. Her presence is mostly felt through photographs and family history, but she is a reminder of the ways women are often sidelined in stories about men, and how the past can resurface in unexpected ways.

Plot Devices

Dual Timelines and Multiple Narrators

The novel employs a structure that alternates between the present-day investigation and the events of the past, using multiple narrators—Geneva, Lo, Edie, and August—to provide different perspectives on the central mystery. This device allows the reader to piece together the truth gradually, experiencing the emotional impact of each revelation alongside the characters. The use of letters, diary entries, and news clippings adds layers of authenticity and ambiguity, blurring the line between fact and interpretation.

Storms as Metaphor and Catalyst

Hurricanes are both literal and symbolic throughout the novel. Each major storm—Delphine, Audrey, Velma, Marie, and Lizzie—marks a turning point in the characters' lives, serving as both backdrop and catalyst for violence, confession, and transformation. The storms represent the uncontrollable forces of fate, desire, and trauma, as well as the possibility of renewal after destruction.

Generational Secrets and Inheritance

The story is driven by the secrets kept by one generation and inherited by the next. The revelation of Geneva and August's true parentage, the hidden box of clippings, and the witches' pact all underscore the ways in which family history, both known and unknown, determines identity and destiny. The motif of inheritance is both a blessing and a curse, offering continuity but also perpetuating cycles of pain.

Unreliable Narration and Shifting Blame

The novel plays with the idea that everyone has their own version of the truth. Testimonies conflict, memories are selective, and the official story is always at odds with private experience. The reader is invited to question not just who committed the crime, but what it means to be guilty or innocent in a world where survival often requires complicity and silence.

Female Friendship and Betrayal

The relationships between Lo, Ellen, and Frieda/Edie are at the heart of the novel. Their childhood pact as "witches" is both a source of strength and a site of betrayal. The story explores how women support, hurt, and ultimately save each other, even as they are pitted against one another by the expectations and judgments of their community.

Analysis

Rachel Hawkins' The Storm is a Southern Gothic mystery that uses the recurring devastation of hurricanes as a metaphor for the cycles of trauma, secrecy, and survival that shape women's lives across generations. At its core, the novel interrogates the stories we tell about ourselves and each other—how communities create scapegoats, how families bury shame, and how women are forced to navigate a world that punishes them for both their beauty and their ambition. The Rosalie Inn, battered but unbroken, stands as a symbol of female resilience, while the storms that threaten it mirror the emotional and moral tempests within the characters. By weaving together multiple timelines and perspectives, Hawkins challenges the reader to question the nature of truth and justice, suggesting that sometimes survival itself is the only victory. The novel's ultimate message is one of hard-won hope: that even in the aftermath of destruction, it is possible to rebuild, to forgive, and to claim one's own story.

Last updated: January 7, 2026