The Sitting Tenant

From the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mrs England and The Household, comes Stacey Halls' most gripping, unsettling and thought-provoking novel yet.

London, 1960. When Celia and Gregory Ringrose buy their first home on the edge of Hampstead Heath they feel like they've won the lottery. The only catch is that their house comes with a sitting tenant: a lodger they can't get rid of. Thankfully Blythe Morris seems nice. Normal. Older than them, she keeps herself to herself, and causes no trouble.

Soon the Ringroses' first baby arrives, and Blythe takes a keen interest, helping Celia with babysitting and even the night shifts. As Celia struggles with early motherhood, feeding and a loss she's struggled to bury, she comes to rely increasingly on the lodger - until, it seems, she cannot do without her. But who really is this woman who is living in their house, looking after their baby - and what does she want?

Praise for Stacey Halls, winner of the Women's Prize x Good Housekeeping Discoveries Award:

'A writer of great originality, great imagination and great sense of place. Atmospheric, intelligent, accessible, every novel is worth reading, then reading again and again' Kate Mosse

'Outstanding. Haunting, compelling, atmospheric'
Emma Stonex

'Utterly compelling. Menacing and marvellously written, this is hugely accomplished'
Daily Mail

'A breathtaking achievement'
Sunday Express