'The Upstairs Room is the real thing. Frightening and clever and full of atmosphere.' - Susan Hill, author of The Woman In Black
The Upstairs Room is a gripping and unsettling debut from Kate Murray-Browne.
Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in East London. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and becomes convinced it is making her ill. Whilst Richard remains preoccupied with Zoe, their mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, Eleanor becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the house's previous owners - including Emily, whose name is written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room.
It was there from the beginning, the day they first saw the house . . .
Eleanor and Richard have stretched themselves to the limit to buy the perfect home - a tall Victorian townhouse with enough room for their growing family. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and convinced it is making her ill. Their two young daughters are restless and unsettled; three-year-old Rosie misbehaves and points to an imaginary girl.
Richard, still positive they've found the house of their dreams, is more preoccupied with Zoe - their alluring, mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, who is also struggling to feel at home. As Eleanor's symptoms intensify, she becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the family who lived in the house before them and left in a hurry. Who were the Ashworths, and why is the name Emily written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room . . . ?
Beautifully written and impossible to put down, The Upstairs Room is a contemporary ghost story and a novel about memory, loneliness, desire and love - the things that haunt us all.
Kate Murray-Browne's
The Upstairs Room has all the ingredients for a perfect thriller. An eerie Victorian house, writing appearing and disappearing on walls, a vanishing child - and knowing all that, it's one of the few times I've begged for an advance copy from the publisher, because I couldn't wait for it to come out. The story is so immersive, so addictive, it's the kind of book you continue to read as you are eating, walking around the house, and pretending to hold conversations with other people on the telephone.
