The Guest Room

A twisty and gripping debut psychological thriller about a lodger with a sinister obsession.

Every guest has their secret. This time it's closer to home... Grief-stricken after the mysterious death of her sister Rosie, Tess starts bnb-ing out her sister's old room, but her new lodger has a sinister obsession.

'Sylva skillfully illustrates an unmoored character completely consumed by a spiraling, unrelenting grief' - Kirkus Reviews

'This story is taut and unsettling with a brilliant ending!' - Candis

'Creepily claustrophobic' - New York Times Book Review
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Careful what you look for. Careful what you find.

After the mysterious death of her beloved sister, Tess is grief-stricken and lonely. She's forced to BnB Rosie's old room to pay the bills.

With strangers in her home, Tess discovers a distraction: their possessions.

Tempted into the room while they're out, she goes through her guests' things, imagining the stories they hold. These forbidden glimpses into their lives and the chance of being caught are a momentary thrill - the only thing she can feel through the numbing pain of her loss, and the so-far fruitless police investigation.

When handsome and inscrutable Arran takes the room, Tess finds his diary. The entries are about an unnamed woman. Crush or obsession? Slowly, his writing takes a darker tone, and Tess can't stop reading.

In her compulsion to know, to uncover the truth, there's something Tess fails to notice.

She's being watched.

Everyone has their secrets. This one is closer to home.

Autorentext

Tasha Sylva is an aspiring small-scale farmer, with a focus on regenerative agriculture, community, and localisation. She is currently based in the southwest of England, after time in London, Scotland, and southern Spain. For her, the power of story is fundamental, as is the power of language. She regularly asks: How can we foster curiosity and imagination? And, importantly, human connection - to each other, soil, plants, and all threads of our environment. When not writing, she can be found swimming in the sea or watching birds. The Guest Room is her debut novel.

Klappentext

Every guest has their secret. This time it's closer to home . . .
Grief-stricken after the mysterious death of her sister Rosie, Tess starts bnb-ing out her sister's old room. She has a sneaky habit of going through her guests' belongings when they're out, teasing herself with forbidden glimpses into their lives, the adrenaline rush at the thought of being caught the only thing she can feel through the numbing pain of her loss.
When handsome and inscrutable Arran takes the room, Tess soon finds and begins reading his diary. A diary which at first appears to chronicle a harmless crush Arran has developed on a stranger, but which slowly takes a darker, more menacing tone.
Drawn to danger but also determined to protect another innocent woman in the way she was unable to protect Rosie, Tess begins to follow Arran, shadowing him through the streets of London to find out who this woman is and if she's at risk. But Arran isn't the only one who's being watched and Tess can't help but notice certain similarities between the woman in the diary and herself. Who's really following whom and how far might Tess go to tempt the same fate that befell her sister?

Zusammenfassung
Every guest has their secret. This time it's closer to home... Grief-stricken after the mysterious death of her sister Rosie, Tess starts bnb-ing out her sister's old room, but her new lodger has a sinister obsession.