title: The Uninvited Guests: A Novel
author:  Sadie Jones 
description: A comedy of manners that turns downright surrealJoness effervescent writing keeps the course steady-even as her characters shed their civilized veneers. (Ellen Shapiro, People Four Star Review)<br /><br />EntertainingJones is a writer of admirable narrative energywith a painfully accurate, almost Stoppardian ear for dialogue and a delightful streak of cruelty that flirts withthe gothic. (Lev Grossman, Time Magazine)<br /><br />Vividly atmosphericniftily deceptivea story of shattered snobbery, transformation of character and in the end a surprising and eerily beautiful portrait of compassionA sublimely clever book. (Mary Pols, San Francisco Chronicle)<br /><br />Deliciouscomparisons with Downton Abbey will be both inevitable and fair. (Wall Street Journal)<br /><br />THE UNINVITED GUESTSdefied my expectations. I saw none of it coming. I read it in one breathless sitting, and finished wanting to give it to everyone I know. (Maile Meloy, Nationally Bestselling Author of BOTH WAYS IS THE ONLY WAY I WANT IT)<br /><br />What a delicious read! Like something written by a wicked Jane Austen,I was captivated by its madcap nature and then, unprepared for the strange fruit that the story became. (Sarah Blake, New York Times Bestselling Author of THE POSTMISTRESS)<br /><br />A brilliant novelAt once a shimmering comedy of manners and disturbing commentary on classso well-written, so intricately plotted, that every page delivers some new astonishment. (Ann Patchett, New York Times Bestselling Author of STATE OF WONDER)<br /><br />What opens as an amusing Edwardian country house tale soon becomes a sinister tragi-comedy of errorsin true Shakespearean fashion. Sadie Jones is a most talented and imaginative storyteller. (Jacqueline Winspear, New York Times Bestselling Author of ELEGY FOR EDDIE)<br /><br />A remarkable dark comedy...Joness characters are delightfully eccentric, the wit delightfully droll, and the prose simply delightful. But for all its charm, this is a serious book (Publishers Weekly <strong>(starred review)</strong>)<br /><br />A delightful, eerie novelJones expertly balances the whimsical and the strange, building things to a climax of abandon, terror and restitutionEngrossing, enjoyable. (Philip Womack, Telegraph)
zlib_text: THE UNINVITED GUESTS
  
  Sadie Jones
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [DEDICATION](index_split_003.html#filepos1857)
  
  For  
  Fred, Tabitha, Daisy  
  with love
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [EPIGRAPH](index_split_003.html#filepos1999)
  
  > > > Their table was a board to tempt even ghosts  
  > To pass the Styx for more substantial feasts.
  
  Don Juan, Lord Byron
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  > [Cover](index_split_000.html#filepos237)
  
  > [Title Page](index_split_000.html#filepos371)
  
  > [Dedication](index_split_001.html#filepos790)
  
  > [Epigraph](index_split_002.html#filepos1048)
  
  > [1 Edward Swift Departs](index_split_004.html#filepos4180)
  
  > [2 A Dreadful Accident](index_split_005.html#filepos96327)
  
  > [3 Smelts and Smithereens](index_split_006.html#filepos222616)
  
  > [4 A Most Unpleasant Game](index_split_007.html#filepos330040)
  
  > [5 Abandon](index_split_008.html#filepos392223)
  
  > [6 The Resting Place](index_split_009.html#filepos454662)
  
  > [7 The Starlight Bath](index_split_010.html#filepos495624)
  
  > [8 Edward Swift Returns](index_