The Guest

Alex's life is derailing when she meets Simon — an older wealthy man who thinks she just graduated from university, rather than being an escort. And now Alex is living in his summer house, dreaming of a future where she will feel safe — like everyone in this chosen society. But she is not one of them, and it takes just one misstep for Alex's dream to turn to dust. Throughout the week, Alex moves from one house to another — always a guest, always a stranger — with the only ephemeral goal: to grasp this carefree life, to linger in it, to transform from a guest into a mistress, the mistress of her own fate. Alex drifts like a ghost along the beaches of Long Island, through the alleys between the villas, the driveways leading to luxurious mansions, across the scorched summer dunes, trailing a wake of despair and destruction. A tense, dynamic, hypnotic novel about loneliness and dreams. Emma Cline, author of the famous "Girls," has crafted a chamber masterpiece about the desire to be with people and the impossibility of being with them. In her book, one can sense the existentially anxious mystery of David Lynch's films and the naively cynical sincerity of Salinger's characters.