Everything To Know About Where The Woman In The House Takes Place
The series proves once again that not everything is what it seems.
The world of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is just as strange as the show’s title. As something of a prerequisite for the psychological thriller genre it’s spoofing, most of the show takes place in one location: Anna’s house. But there are also a number of other important locations both around town and outside of it, and as the show goes on, you might find yourself wondering if the town of Canterbury Hill in The Woman in the House is real or not.
The Woman in the House’s setting seems to be a slice of suburbia like any other, and the show doesn’t go out of its way to give it any characteristic traits. Nice, bland-looking house line the streets, and nosy neighbors gossip about everybody’s business. This could be set anywhere in America! But there are some important clues that help narrow down the location. Most notably, Anna learns that Lisa’s airline is not yet making flights to the West Coast, which confirms Canterbury Hill isn’t in the western U.S. To pinpoint the setting even more, Anna visits the nearby town of Middlebury to look into Neil’s past, which brings her to a lighthouse close by. If it wasn’t clear before that the show is set in New England, there’s your (somewhat shaky) proof.
I mean, the name Canterbury Hill was a tip-off in and of itself as a reference to the famed Middle English classic Canterbury Tales. Plus, everyone’s always wearing cozy sweaters and eating warm casseroles — it’s a whole New England vibe.
The trickier question is whether Canterbury Hill is based on a real town or not. There isn’t a town specifically called Canterbury Hill in New England, but there are a few that come close... and there are quite a few towns called Middlebury scattered around the northeastern U.S.
The two most likely options for a real-life Canterbury Hill are either Canterbury, Connecticut or Rome, New York. Both are relatively close to New York City, which makes Sloan taking a job in the big city make sense. The case for Canterbury, Connecticut is the name, of course, and that it’s only an hour and a half drive from Middlebury, Connecticut, which is located near lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast. However, Rome, New York is also close to a Middlebury, New York, which is right near the Great Lakes. There’s a major street in Rome called Canterbury Hill, which is what makes is an option, since fans know Anna lives on a street called Canterbury Hill.
Unfortunately, that’s probably the closest fans are going to get to an answer without going full detective Anna mode — the show either takes place in upstate New York or in eastern Connecticut. Either way, the offbeat murder mystery is just as absurd and twisty.
