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Rooms
On sale
25th September 2014
Price: £16.99
Wealthy Richard Walker has just died, leaving behind his country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His estranged family – bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna – have arrived for their inheritance.
But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself – in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb.
The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide – with cataclysmic results.
But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself – in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb.
The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide – with cataclysmic results.
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Reviews
A powerful haunted house story ... Excellently paced... Ultimately, Rooms is an outstanding novel, with a brilliant array of characters...compelling and difficult to put away...it has stuck with me in ways that few books do. Oliver's particular blend of fantasy is at times funny, other times heartbreaking
'Oliver has a terrific talent for old-fashioned storytelling, nailing your attention from the first sentence.'
Imaginative and engaging...cleverly imagined and plotted.
Oliver skillfully weaves her tales together clearly and cleanly... The real strength of this novel is Oliver's knack for rendering charmingly flawed characters with real-life problems and complicated relationships... Oliver's prose is crisp and clean; it gives the book much of its energy
Oliver has a caustic sense of humour, splicing the shattering emotional chaos with pitch-black comedy
A chilling ghost story, and much, much more: ROOMS is a magnificent gothic fugue on the themes of longing and buried secrets
A sensational novel that easily glides between the normal and the paranormal. At times humorous, at times heartbreaking, ROOMS is always emotionally resonant and, despite the presence of ghosts, very, very real.
In this spectral soap opera there's fun to be had as the plot's many traps are set and then snapped shut
This book grips hard - it's impossible to put down, and there is no lull - the pacing is perfect.
A smoky and realistic ghost story that subverts cliche...this satisfying novel will be enjoyed by Oliver's fans and bring new ones to the fold.