Garden imagery
At the beginning of the novel Melanie goes out into the garden at night in her mother's wedding dress. She feels like a true bride out of a storybook and doesn't even need a groom, that's how she feels. The night and the garden are enchanting and are enhancing Melanie's magical nightly walk. But, she suddenly becomes overcome with the feeling of being alone and the garden takes on a threatening image, bushes are trees are seemingly growing monster hands that are ready to capture her, and she wants to go back to the safety of indoors. Later on in the novel Melanie takes a walk with Finn, and they end up in the pleasure garden, it is an abandoned area where lovers often seek privacy, but the garden has a different, more significant meaning to Finn, a place where he seeks refuge. This is where Melanie has her first unpleasant kiss and where she comes back at the end with Finn, her groom that is a bit different from what she imagined, to seek refuge after the toy shop and the house are burned.
Interior imagery
The imagery of interior is present to contrast Melanie's previous luxurious home to Uncle Philip's house which is her new one. While Melanie's old home had all the luxurious perks that she didn't pay much attention to such as, warm water, toilet paper, a cozy bedroom all to herself, the new home has none of those things and Melanie is regretful of the things she lost and took for granted.
Portraits and photographs
There is an often appearing imagery of photographs and portraits that seem to show or foreshadow the truth about the characters. The most notable is the wedding photograph with Uncle Philip that is shown at the beginning. While looking at the photograph Melanie can sense the malice of Uncle Philip's character and it foreshadows the upcoming grim events. The same photograph is shown towards the end in Uncle Philip's bedroom and it again foreshadows the event that follows which is the destruction of the home and toy shop.
Finn himself is a portrait painter and the portrait of his sister in his bedroom serves to predict the relationship that the Jowles siblings have.
