History Literature / TheOceanAtTheEndOfTheLane

* TheReveal: At the end, the narrator finally asks Old Mrs. Hempstock why he came back there and she tells him that he always comes back. He always remembers for a bit and then leaves. [[spoiler:It's Lettie bringing him back, wanting to know how his life is going. Wanting to know if it was worth it.]]

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Ursula (who actually looks like a mass of rotten gray cloth), Lettie (who actually looks like a form made of silk the color of frost illuminated by candle light) and presumably her mother and grandmother (Ginnie always appears human, and Old Mrs. Hempstock only partially reveals herself [[spoiler: when the hunger birds almost kill Lettie]] as a woman whose hair and clothes shine so bright she looks like she's made of magnesium). It's also implied that everyone's true self looks very different from their physical form.

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home in Sussex, England, for a funeral. While there, he remembers when he was seven years old and when he walked to the house at the end of the lane where the Hempstocks lived: Lettie, who was eleven years old, her mother Ginny, and her grandmother, Old Mrs. Hempstock.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Ursula (who actually looks like a mass of rotten gray cloth), Lettie (who actually looks like a form made of silk the color of frost illuminated by candle light) and presumably her mother and grandmother (Ginnie always appears human, and Old Mrs. Hempstock only partially reveals herself [[spoiler: when the hunger birds almost kill Lettie]] as a woman who hair and clothes shine so bright she looks like she's made of magnesium). It's also implied that everyone's true self looks very different from their physical form.

* BigGood: The three Hempstocks as a whole, but particularly Old Mrs. Hempstock. They see it as their mission to shoo off "fleas" (otherwise known by others as EldritchAbominations) back to where they came from, both to keep them from hurting humanity, and also [[spoiler: to keep them from attracting the hunger birds]]

* BigGood: The three Hempstocks as a whole, but particularly Old Mrs. Hempstock. They see it as their mission to shoo off "fleas" (otherwise known by others as ElderitchAbominations) back to where they came from, both to keep them from hurting humanity, and also [[spoiler: to keep them from attracting the hunger birds]]

* BabysitterFromHell: Ursula Monkton.

* HumanoidAbomination: The thing that calls itself Ursula Monkton... at least until it abandons its disguise. Also, perhaps all of the Hempstocks.
* IKnowYourTrueName: Never specifically comes into play, but Ursula chides Lettie for sealing her without knowing her name and Lettie goes to a lot of trouble to find it out.

** A couple of throw-away comments make it fairly clear that his name is George (Ursula Monkton calls him "pudding-and-pie", his father actually calls him "Handsome George" at one point). His sister, on the other hand, is always just referred to as "my [little] sister". Neither parents get named beyond their relationship to the narrator, and the family's last name is never mentioned.

* EldritchAbomination: The hunger birds. They come from outside of reality and can ''literally'' eat the world into nothingness.

* BabysitterFromHell: Ursula Monkton

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman [[AuthorAppeal loves this trope in general]], so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* HumanoidAbomination: The thing that calls itself Ursula Monkton...at least until it abandons its disguise. Also, perhaps all of the Hempstocks.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All of the Hempstocks are older then they look...much, much older.

* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Near the end, the hunger birds decide that if they can't get to the narrator, they'll just eat everything ''around'' him...including some of the stars in the sky. After everything resolved, Old Mrs. Hempstock makes them put it back as it was.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman [[AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general]], so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman [[AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general]], so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman [[AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general]], so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman {{AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general}}, so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman {{AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general}}, so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* TheHecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman {{AuthorAppeal: loves this trope in general}}, so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* HecateSisters: all three Hempstock women are this: Lettie is the Maiden, Mrs. Hempstock is the Mother, and Old Mrs, Hempstock is the Crone. They also have associations with the ocean and moon, two things the triple goddess is often associated with in Wicca and in a few folk religions. Also, NeilGaiman {{AuthorAppeal loves this trope in general}}, so it's no surprise to see it here as well.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:The narrator died in the original timeline, but Old Mrs. Hempstock snipped-and-cut that out and Lettie jumped in his place. She didn't die, but was badly hurt, so her mother gave her back to the ocean to heal.]]

''Literature/TheOceanAtTheEndOfTheLane'' is a dark fantasy book by NeilGaiman.

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And now something bad has happened. Something has been let loose in the world, something very dark and very dangerous, and only Lettie Hempstock can help stop it.