Stay
It was meant to be Caitlin's perfect summer, but betrayed by her best friend and her boyfriend, she finds herself hitchhiking home alone, heartbroken, and penniless.
When a smiling family pulls up on the roadside to help her on her way, she's relieved - they seem so friendly, safe. And when they offer her a warm bed in their isolated house for the night, she's grateful not to have to travel back alone in the dark. In any case, she's in no rush to get home, where a grave secret is lying in wait to blow her family apart.
One night soon turns into two, and then three. The increasingly spellbinding couple wants her to stay, and why shouldn't she? Their children need a tutor, and the longer she can avoid home, the better. But then an older member of the household warns her to leave immediately. And when her phone suddenly goes missing, when she realises that this perfect family is a perfect lie, it might not be so easy for her to leave...
A brilliantly suspenseful read, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Mark Edwards and Claire Douglas.
BEST DEALS
About the Author
Jane Bailey
"Although there were few books in our house growing up, there were always plenty of stories. My father used to take us on his knee on wet afternoons and start, ‘As I was going through the woods, I met…’; and my grandfather would do the same, but begin: ‘When I was a boy, living in Cornwall, I got to know a family of bears…’
"Stories were chiefly for entertainment and comfort, but we came to enjoy the core values embedded in them and the way things turned out all right in the end. I think I began to learn then that although real life doesn’t have neat story arcs, storytelling is a way of making sense of the world."
Jane Bailey is the author of eight novels. Her first was shortlisted for the Dillons Prize, her fifth novel, 'What Was Rescued', for the RNA Novel of the Year awards, and her her latest novel, 'Stay', is published by Orion in 2023.
Jane was a writer-in-residence for Cheltenham Festivals' First Story for several years, and is a judge for the Laurie Lee Prize for Writing. She lives in Gloucestershire.
Twitter: @JaneBailey15