The Girls in the Stilt House

The Girls in the Stilt House (2021) is Kelly Mustian’s debut novel and a USA Today bestseller. Mustian grew up on Natchez Trace, where the novel takes place. Mustian says, “Growing up where I did has everything to do with what I write and the stories I want to tell. Bearing witness […] and speaking to one span of time in one particular place […] those things are at the heart of this book” (“Interview: April 15, 2021.” Book Reporter). The novel demonstrates the resilience of women and the complexities of friendships forged across social divisions, exploring the difficult moral dilemmas faced by individuals disempowered by their communities.

This guide refers to the 2021 Sourcebooks Landmark paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, gender discrimination, harassment, child abuse, pregnancy loss, animal cruelty and death, cursing, illness and death, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Ada Morgan and Matilda Patterson proceed down a remote stretch of Natchez Trace at midnight. Matilda identifies two tombs, pushing the slab atop one aside. The girls retrieve some tools and a body from their wagon.

The novel then skips back to early 1923. Sixteen-year-old Ada returns to her home in the swamp after running off with a man a year earlier. Her father, Virgil, is not home, so she cleans the house. Ada remembers how much her mother Sylvie endured before she died in a fire.

When Virgil returns a week later, he greets her coldly, then leaves to check his traps. Later, he makes her apologize for running away and forces her to sleep in the shed. When she vomits in the yard, he points out that she doesn’t even know she’s pregnant. Virgil reveals that Sylvie had planned to run away with Ada. He admits to setting the fire that killed Sylvie, and then he sets fire to the shed, intent on killing Ada. Suddenly, Virgil falls forward, hit on the head by a woman with a hammer.

When Ada regains consciousness, the fire is out. The Black girl who saved her is called Matilda, and they move and bury Virgil’s body. Matilda guesses that Ada is four months along and offers to stay with her. Matilda says they need to lay low and calls Gertie Tuttle, a local midwife. Matilda trades items from the house for necessary supplies. She claims the shed as a workspace and writes for hours there. Matilda never opens up to Ada, remaining emotionally distant. In August, Ada gives birth to a girl and accepts Matilda’s baby name suggestion—Annis.

Part 2 begins earlier, in the spring of 1922. Matilda hates Virgil because he is cruel to her father, Dalton. Her mother, Teensy, is pregnant. Dalton wants to own land but owes Curtis Creedle a debt, so he transports and stores Creedle’s bootleg liquor. One day, Curtis’ daughter, Peggy, brings a letter for Matilda from a friend in Cleveland, whose great-uncle runs a newspaper there. Matilda plans to move there after the baby’s birth.

One day, Matilda goes to town with Peggy to mail a letter. They witness a white man punch a Black man and break his jaw. Matilda helps him up and retrieves his pocket watch. Frank Bowers, Peggy’s cousin, arrives to work for Creedle for the summer. When Matilda sees Frank stealing liquor from the Pattersons’ house, he warns her to stay silent. She tells her father, but they decide to do nothing.

Another day, Matilda sees Frank pushing a wheelbarrow full of bottles. He blackmails her by threatening her family. She keeps it to herself, fearing it would stress her family. The next Sunday, the pastor introduces Cassie Jones, the woman whose husband, Buddy, was assaulted in town. He was found dead in the river. Matilda makes herself a notebook and writes down all she knows. Buddy was killed the day she saw Frank stealing liquor. She overhears a local boy talking about a white man and a Black man he saw in the woods a few days before. The Black man mentioned that he was buying the property, and the white man offered him $50 not to. When the Black man declined, the white man got mad.

Matilda agonizes over what to do. When she fetches milk from the springhouse, Frank is there, holding Buddy’s pocket watch. When he sees her staring, he realizes that she knows what he did. Matilda doesn’t tell anyone what she knows.

Teensy gives birth to a girl named Annis but then dies unexpectedly. Matilda will not go to Cleveland now, so she gives Dalton her money to buy some land with his friends. Creedle leaves for Baltimore, putting Dalton in charge.

Dalton contracts influenza. Virgil shows up, demanding alcohol, but when she says he has influenza, he leaves. Matilda hides her notebook in case Virgil returns. As she returns to the house, she sees Virgil set a barrel of dried corncobs alight, but she tumbles down the bank and passes out. When Matilda wakes, the house is aflame. Everyone thinks Dalton, Annis, and Matilda died. Matilda hides at Gertie’s.

In Part 3, it is late August 1923. After the fire, Matilda hides in the woods, waiting to take revenge on Virgil. She watched Virgil set fire to the shed and saved Ada. Ada struggles with breastfeeding, and Matilda helps. Matilda explains that she’s had to figure things out and wants Ada to do the same. When Matilda makes a crib for Annis, Ada feels they are growing closer. Matilda writes about Buddy’s death, soothed by the writing process. Matilda sends Ada to town for supplies, giving her a package to send, her account about Buddy hidden inside. Ada meets Flora Rankin, a shop owner, who gives her some fabric and asks her to make a baby dress.

Ada gets to work, recalling how she and her mother loved sewing before Virgil destroyed her machine. In town, Ada shows the dress to Flora, who offers her a job. Ada returns with a bag of fabric and a sewing machine, plus letters for Matilda. Her friend shared Matilda’s writing with her great-uncle, who wants more stories. Matilda feels like someone finally sees her, and sewing gives Ada hope. Ada begins to view Matilda as a sister, unsure how she’d survive alone. Ada brings Matilda another package and the $4.50 she earned. Matilda resents Ada’s good luck but is thrilled the newspaper man loves “her work.” She digs up her notebook, feeling a sense of purpose. Ada also gains confidence from her work and dreams of leaving the swamp. For now, things are easier between them.

Still, Matilda refuses to share her past, which makes Ada anxious. Matilda grows more distant, and Ada’s worries increase. One day, Matilda makes pancakes and then disappears while Ada is busy. Ada feels helpless and seeks out Gertie, who won’t say where Matilda is. When Ada searches for Peggy, she finds Frank, who asks her to be his housekeeper, saying there’s a private room for her and Annis. Ada declines, planning to keep sewing for Flora. However, on a town trip, she learns Flora had a stroke, and the shop’s new proprietor won’t pay her fairly. Returning home, she sees that one of the house’s stilts snapped, and the house is falling into the mud. She takes Frank’s job offer out of necessity.

Matilda lives with a friend in Jackson and works at the movie theater. One day, she learns that her friend’s boyfriend was hogtied and buried alive by some white men. She writes a story about it and sends it to the Cleveland paper, which publishes that and her other articles under a pseudonym. Ada enjoys cleaning Frank’s house but senses he is toying with her. He sells the property and offers Ada a bonus to help him prepare. He invites her to Jackson, and they find her a room in town. Frank is shocked to see Matilda in Jackson. Later, when Ada overhears Frank say Matilda’s name, she gasps, and he realizes Matilda lived with Ada. He accuses Matilda of murder, saying Ada harbored a criminal. When he accuses them of killing Virgil, she panics, arguing that Matilda did it to save her. When he threatens her with arrest, she says they buried Virgil in the woods.

Realizing Frank is in Jackson, Matilda has her friend Mr. Lewis drive her back to the Trace, where she goes to Gertie’s. Frank promises Ada that the deputy sheriff will do whatever he says. Ada fears that saving Annis means harming Matilda. Frank wants to see Virgil’s body, so Ada leads him to Virgil’s deer stand, where Virgil’s enormous bear trap snaps Frank’s leg. Ada goes to where Matilda is hiding, saying she killed Frank and doesn’t know what to do. Matilda opens the door, and Ada tells her everything. They make it look like Frank had a hunting accident. Ada and Matilda split the cash Frank hid around the house.

They buy train tickets to head North. When the train stops, Ada sees a dress shop in need of a seamstress. She gets a job there, and when they say goodbye, she knows something between her and Matilda has healed. Matilda goes on, alone, confident in her own abilities.