The New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the
Delirium trilogy makes her brilliant adult debut with this mesmerizing
story in the tradition of The Lovely Bones, Her Fearful Symmetry, and
The Ocean at the End of the Lane--a tale of family, ghosts, secrets,
and mystery, in which the lives of the living and the dead intersect in
shocking, surprising, and moving ways.
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.
Elegantly constructed and brilliantly paced, Rooms is an enticing and
imaginative ghost story and a searing family drama that is as haunting
as it is resonant.
