The Guest
Metaphysical mystery story of a man whose past has been blotted out by an injury to his brain. The story takes place in France and is written in the first person.
Where The Guest keeps showing up
One of our editors' lists features this novel.
What you might want to know about The Guest
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Alex has been spending the summer in the East End of Long Island with Simon, a wealthy older man, until a poolside misstep gets her pushed out. With nowhere to go and a Labor Day party at Simon's house in five days, she drifts between strangers' guest rooms, hoping to be let back in.
The most commonly searched is The Guest by Emma Cline (2023), a literary novel about a young woman drifting through Long Island's late summer. The metadata above lists Booth Tarkington in error.
Both novels are by Emma Cline and share her interest in young women navigating predatory men and unstable social settings. The Girls (2016) is set in a Manson-style cult; The Guest is contemporary literary fiction.
The Guest is 192 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Guest takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
The Guest is a standalone novel by Booth Tarkington, not part of a series.
The Guest is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
