Location from The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
A suburban cul-de-sac in northern Virginia that looks like any other American neighborhood — except the houses are full of God's adopted children and the lawn has a bull the size of a truck.
Garrison Oaks is where Father raised his children. It looks like suburban Virginia and it is suburban Virginia — that's the whole point. Father chose a setting that was maximally ordinary, maximally American, as the front door to a repository of cosmic knowledge. The children grew up here between their sessions in the Library, eating cereal and watching TV and then walking through a door that led to halls containing the fundamental structure of reality. Now that Father is gone, the neighborhood has become the librarians' base camp — a place that's familiar and small enough to feel safe while the universe's management structure is in crisis. The neighbors left years ago. The remaining houses serve as individual residences for the siblings. David grills in one backyard. Margaret sits on one porch. Michael's house smells like a kennel. The contrast between the cosmic stakes and the suburban setting is the defining feature of this place.
Split-level ranch houses arranged around a cul-de-sac with cracked sidewalks and aging basketball hoops. Lawns that need mowing. A mailbox with no mail. Driveways with cars that the librarians don't know how to drive. From the street, it looks like a neighborhood that's slowly declining — not abandoned, but not thriving. The American dream with the color saturation turned down. The only anomaly visible to normal eyes is the inexplicable sense that you should keep driving.
Also known as: Garrison Oaks, the cul-de-sac, the neighborhood, home