The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

The significance of having a support network in the form of family, found or otherwise, is an ever-present theme in the novel as Mika finds herself in a familial setting for the first time. In Chapter 1, Mika describes her upbringing with Primrose as having “very little in the way of companionship or love” (5) because her nannies and tutors constantly changed. The lack of a permanent, stable family environment made her life incredibly lonely and taught her to guard herself from getting close to others. Because she doesn’t know what she’s missing, she doesn’t see the value of family until she experiences being part of one.

As Mika gets to know the people of Nowhere House, this theme develops through the way the house’s residents support one another and extend their love to Mika. In Chapter 11, she learns how Jamie and Lucie escaped bad situations before coming to Nowhere House and realizes that the house was “a place made up of fractured pieces that, somehow, had come together to make something whole and wonderful” (125). This informs the idea that family has a flexible definition and can be a support system for hard times.