The Guest Who Stayed by Roger Penfound

The Guest Who Stayed Reviews

• 
  Brian Robertson

  This is a terrific and very compelling book. I did nothing for two days but read it.
  It is a family story, with many twists, spanning time from early to mid twentieth Century. The flat but fertile Norfolk countryside is the setting in which the hardships of simple working folk are made worse by one particularly extreme Christian culture and by both world wars. It is a story of struggle, acceptance of the inevitable and making do with the hand that’s given without ever losing hope. The brush with the Brethren in this book reminded me of Robbie Burns (very famous Scottish poet) having to “stand in the kirk” for his sin of fornication.
  The characters are drawn very strongly by the telling of short stories at the start of the book. As I was drawn in I felt I already knew a great deal about each one and perhaps this was partly the reason I became so involved in the story.
  The book also describes situations and behaviour that few of us have had to deal with. The intrigue, the hierarchies, the hypocrisy and the corruption of the early twentieth century all combine to affect the behaviours of the characters such that the reader (me at least) feel that they have a very strong grasp and understanding of the times.
• 
  Maureen Vincent-Northam

  The Great War is over and shy and reserved, Jed Carter befriends Alice and Flora, and each has a dream to better themselves. When Alice persuades Jed she’d make the ideal wife, they start out on a new, if a little shaky, life together.
  
  Meanwhile, war veteran, Jack sells his business and moves to the country when he learns some devastating news about his health.
  
  When Jack meets Alice and Flora little do any of them know what an impact he’ll have on all their lives or the lives of generations to follow.
  
  A thoroughly enjoyable saga with plenty of twists and turns.
  
• 
  JT

  Wow....Who would have thought that a third into this story, I'd be thrown an unexpected curve ball that set me to reading the rest in one sitting! Well-written with a nicely developed plot, believable characters and dialogue plus multiple twists and turns all the way to the last page. This is definitely one of those books that you want to curl up with on a couch when you have a couple of hours of 'me' time. I believe there is a sequel to this book. It's for certain that I look forward to getting and reading more works by this author.
  
• 
  Annemarie

  A human drama about war, cheating, rape and overall not that likeable characters. However, it is quite interesting to read about their lives.
• 
  Ruth Habington

  This was a great read a real page turner, I read it in record time for me, it had plenty of twists.