{"product_id":"the-christmas-guest-a-novella-isbn-9780063297456","title":"The Christmas Guest: A Novella","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Delicious…I defy you to stop reading \u003cem\u003eThe Christmas Guest \u003c\/em\u003eonce you begin.” — \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author Peter Swanson pens a spectacularly spine-chilling novella in which an American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAshley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA cozy holiday read \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePerfect for fans of winter mysteries\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA delightful Christmas gift\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Carefully crafted and featuring an eloquent blending of psychological and suspense in a Christmas backgrounded crime thriller of a read from start to finish.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMidwest Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An expertly wielded icicle to the heart that packs a lot of menace into its 93 pages....\u003cem\u003eThe Christmas Guest \u003c\/em\u003eisn’t just good for a novella; it might become a dark little yuletide classic.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAirMail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A brief but potent book with the weight and wallop of a much longer one. It still affords Mr. Swanson enough space in which to work his characteristic trick of pulling the rug out from under a hapless audience. Here’s a hint for those who take up this book: Never mind unreliable narrators; beware the unreliable reader.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The book gets darker and more shocking as it goes along….The twist will make you rethink everything you’ve read before.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Smart, surprising, cool and fun, with a deeply satisfying ending. I loved it!” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGillian McAllister, New York Times bestselling author, on The Kind Worth Saving\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Swanson does more with less in this punchy thriller that packs all the potency of his longer works….[He] has plenty of knockout twists up his sleeve, but they never feel cheap, and he manages to build three-dimensional characters despite the brief page count. This is a perfect introduction to one of the cleverest talents in contemporary genre fiction.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"The Christmas Guest\u003c\/em\u003e never ceases to amaze, and the huge time and plot jumps from one section of the novella to the other is handled brilliantly by Swanson. It will puzzle readers in the best of ways and will make them want to go back to the beginning and read this short, fascinating story all over again.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBook Reporter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"William Morrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44890525073637,"sku":"NP9780063297456","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780063297456.jpg?v=1730233492","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-christmas-guest-a-novella-isbn-9780063297456","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}