Character Relationship Map: Verity

Characters

• Lowen Ashleigh (played by Dakota Johnson) — protagonist

  A published author grieving her mother's death and struggling to reach a wider audience. She accepts a publisher's offer to continue Verity Crawford's novel series and moves into Verity's Vermont home...

• Verity Crawford (played by Anne Hathaway) — supporting

  A bestselling novelist known for writing from the perspectives of immoral villains, Verity is left supposedly catatonic after a near-fatal car accident. Her unfinished autobiography describes resentme...

• Jeremy Crawford (played by Josh Hartnett) — supporting

  Verity's husband and the grieving father of Harper and Crew, Jeremy invites Lowen to stay at the family's home and help continue Verity's novel series. He grows close to Lowen and begins an affair wit...

• Crew Crawford (played by Brady Wagner) — supporting

  Crew is Verity and Jeremy's young son and Harper's twin brother. After Harper dies in a canoeing accident, he remains with his parents in their Vermont home while Lowen moves in to work on Verity's se...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Jeremy Crawford → Crew Crawford (Family Father And Son) — Jeremy's family life with Crew is affected by Harper's death, Verity's killing, and the conflicting explanations surrounding the family's past.

  Jeremy is identified as Crew's father, and the ending describes Lowen continuing her life with Jeremy and Crew.

• Verity Crawford → Crew Crawford (Family Mother And Son) — Their relationship is central to the disputed account of Harper's drowning and the canoeing incident, while Crew later implies that Verity can speak to him.

  Crew is identified as Verity's son and Harper's twin brother. Lowen's account says he survived the canoeing incident because he could swim; Verity's l...

• Verity Crawford → Jeremy Crawford (Family Married Couple In Mutual Suspicion) — Their marriage becomes a lethal struggle shaped by competing accounts of Verity's conduct and Jeremy's attempt to kill her.

  Verity is Jeremy's wife. Her letter claims that Jeremy drugged her and staged a car crash to kill her, while Lowen's account has Jeremy kill Verity af...

• Lowen Ashleigh → Jeremy Crawford (Romantic Lovers And Co-Conspirators) — Their attraction develops into a relationship and then a shared cover-up. Lowen later withholds Verity's letter from Jeremy as she continues her life with him.

  Lowen and Jeremy begin an affair. After Jeremy kills Verity, they dispose of her body and tell police she drowned accidentally.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Lowen Ashleigh → Crew Crawford (Social Confidante And Guardian Figure) — Lowen tries to learn what Crew knows about Harper's death and ends the story living with him as part of Jeremy's family.

  Lowen asks Crew about Harper's death, and he refuses to answer while implying that Verity speaks to him. Lowen later chooses to continue her life with...

• Lowen Ashleigh → Verity Crawford (Conflict Rivalry And Suspected Betrayal) — Lowen comes to see Verity as a threat after reading the manuscript and confronts her, but Verity's final letter leaves Lowen uncertain about what actually happened.

  Lowen finds Verity's unfinished autobiography, which describes Verity resenting her children and attempting to drown them. Later, Verity's letter cont...

Story Analysis

A writer's attempt to separate truth from fiction entangles her in a family's grief, secrets, and competing accounts of violence.

Plot Progression

1. An Offer Wrapped in Grief — Lowen mourns her mother while trying to advance her writing career. A publisher's offer brings her into the Crawford household to continue Verity's series.
2. Secrets in Verity's Office — Lowen studies Verity's notes and discovers a disturbing unfinished autobiography. Her observations of Verity deepen her uncertainty about the apparent catatonia.
3. The Manuscript's Accusation — Lowen's affair with Jeremy develops as she returns to Verity's manuscript. Its claims about the canoe incident and Verity's intentions intensify the danger inside the home.
4. A Killing and a Cover Story — Verity admits that she faked her catatonia, and Jeremy kills her with Lowen's involvement. They dispose of her body and give police an account of accidental drowning.
5. The Letter's Uncertain Truth — Months later, Lowen finds Verity's letter, which offers a radically different explanation of the manuscript and the car crash. She keeps it secret, unable to settle which story is true.