The Uninvited Guests
By: Sadie Jones

Published: 2012

# of pages: 272

Official description: One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.
The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors is not invited to taste. But nothing, it seems, will go according to plan. As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels.
Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.
The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.

My opinion:  This book took me a few chapters to get into, but after those chapters I couldn't put it down.  It was a strange story - a mix of historical fiction, Gothic, and paranormal fiction.  I chose to label it Gothic because of the secluded failing mansion that is cut off from the outside world.  The characters become isolated during a storm and all kinds of unusual things begin to happen.

Like many ghost stories do to me, I felt like the story went from being creepy to just weird.  The climax seemed a little rushed after the buildup, but overall I liked the ending and enjoyed the story.  The characters end up changing during the course of the novel and the entire novel ends with a mysterious occurrence that wraps up the whole book.


Why I gave this book 3/5 stars:  Kept my attention, creepy but not too scary, a rushed climax/ending, a little weird, characters that are hard to relate to.

Other reviews:
Bookfoolery and Babble

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