On a Quiet Street

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of addiction, violence, and domestic abuse. The text also contains offensive language about mental health conditions, which the guide replicates in quotation only.

Paige Moretti is one of the three protagonists in On a Quiet Street. She used to run a chain of restaurants with her husband, Grant Moretti. Throughout the novel, Paige is a tough maternal figure who cares passionately about her son and, later, her granddaughter Avery. Following the murder of her son, Caleb, who was 22 at the time of his death, Paige emotionally collapsed. She and her husband closed all of their restaurants but one. At the beginning of the novel, Paige is grieving and has become aggressive. She is separated from her husband, Grant. As described by her best friend and neighbor, Cora, “Paige pushed [Grant] away until the couch became the guest room, and now this room above the restaurant” (80). Paige is introduced acting obsessive and erratic. She throws a newspaper at the paper boy, resulting in a visit from the police. She recounts to her husband how she broke into her neighbor’s garage to look for evidence of his involvement in her son’s murder.