The Uninvited Guests

Welcome to Sterne, an old manor house, somewhere in the north of England. It is not-quite-home to the Torringtons - the head of the household has been forced to make a dash to Manchester in a last ditch attempt to save the family from financial ruin. It is a May night, unseasonably stormy, 1912: for Emerald Torrington, it is turning out to be a rum sort of twentieth birthday. Emerald has argued with her brother, and little sister Smudge is sick in bed. A small supper party has been planned but the thought of the guestlist makes Emerald shudder: the conventional Suttons (yawn) from Berkshire and Farmer John, a well-off tenant, who has most definitely set his cap at Emerald. The cook toils in the kitchen over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses. And only a few miles away a horrific train crash on a branch line brings a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savoury survivors to seek shelter at the house. One of these in particular is most definitely not a gentleman. The party does not go as planned. There is not enough food to appease the traumatised passengers, and they will keep escaping the confines of the morning room. To add to the mischief, Smudge has smuggled her pony Lady upstairs, to make her portrait in charcoals on her bedroom wall. But the old house will have to relinquish more dark secrets if Smudge is ever to get Lady to go back down stairs... The Uninvited Guests is the delightful, surprising and outrageous new novel from bestselling Sadie Jones: prepare to revel in the opulence of Edwardian country house life, but above all, expect a spooky and unexpected ride...