The Woman in Cabin 10: Chapter 26 Summary & Analysis

Stunned, Lo wonders how she had missed figuring out the identity of the girl from Cabin 10 earlier. She and Anne Bullmer have the same dark eyes and high cheekbones. The girl’s hair (a wig) and penciled eyebrows completely transform her look from deathly fragile to vibrantly alive. Lo realizes that, when she spoke to Anne in the past, she had avoided looking at her face too closely, distracted and discomfited by the marks of her illness.

Lo realizes she must have stumbled on a prearranged code when she knocked on Cabin 10 that first evening. If she hadn’t, she might never have known the girl was there and would not have wound up in this situation. Lo continues to puzzle over exactly what she’s stumbled upon and what will become of her. She realizes she needs to get “Anne” on her side, if she has any hope of getting out alive.

As Lo thinks about the two women, she can’t square what she knows about the wealthy, elegant Anne Bullmer with the girl in the Pink Floyd T-shirt. It’s as if there are two Annes. Then it suddenly clicks for Lo that this is exactly what’s happened—the real Anne died the night the Aurora left England; the girl has been impersonating Anne ever since. Lo had interrupted the girl in her cabin while she was transforming herself into “Anne.” The girl and Richard Bullmer had been banking on no one noticing the minor differences in the two women’s features—for example, ensuring that no photos were taken of the actual Anne.

Lo realizes that Bullmer and the girl almost got away with their scheme. If she hadn’t been awakened by the splash that first night, they probably would have. Now Lo’s hopes for survival rest on figuring out who the girl really is—and getting through to her in some way.