Islington is the home base of Emma Corrigan’s London life: the place she returns to from work and shares with Lissy, and a domestic counterpoint to Connor Martin’s home in Maida Vale. The novel gives the area little geographic description; its significance comes instead from the journeys and private scenes that converge there.

Home and Domestic Life

Emma identifies Islington as where she lives. When she arrives home from Connor’s place in Maida Vale, the journey takes about half an hour. Inside the flat, she finds Lissy on the sofa, surrounded by papers and absorbed in an article about scientific measurements of beauty. The scene establishes the home as shared space: Emma enters Lissy’s ongoing work and conversation rather than a private retreat detached from other people. A later return makes the flat feel less settled. After leaving the office at 5:30, Emma reaches home within twenty minutes, unusually quickly by the London Underground. She hears a thumping, bumping noise from Lissy’s room and calls out to her while going into the kitchen. Her immediate impulse is to tell Lissy about the day, so the home is also where Emma brings the experiences and anxieties of work back into her personal life.

Connections to Work and Maida Vale

Islington’s position in the narrative is defined by movement between places. Maida Vale is the location of Connor’s home, and the half-hour journey from there to Islington marks a transition from time with him to life in the flat with Lissy. The return journey from the office is much quicker on another occasion, showing the home as a practical destination in Emma’s daily London routine without establishing any broader facts about the area or its transport links. The workplace remains present even after Emma has left it. On the day of the quick journey home, she has been on edge because Jack Harper might return to the department; she leaves as soon as the working day ends and only begins to relax after getting out of the building. At home, the unexpected noise from Lissy’s room interrupts her intended account of the day. The sequence connects the pressure of the office with the domestic scene that follows, while keeping Islington itself as the setting of Emma’s return rather than the source of the work conflict.

Narrative Significance

The scenes in Islington establish a recurring contrast between Emma’s outward-facing working life and the familiar flat she shares with Lissy. The home can hold ordinary details, such as Lissy’s papers and magazine, but it is not sealed off from the plot’s disruptions: Emma arrives carrying news and apprehension, and the sounds from Lissy’s room redirect her attention. Islington therefore functions less as a described urban landmark than as a domestic anchor, organizing the movement between Connor, work, and the people with whom Emma lives.