I simply slung my rucksack on my shoulder and climbed into the car – and into the life – of perfect strangers.

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.

#Stay @JaneBailey15 @orionbooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #BlogTour

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…

My Review

I love a book that’s set in my home county, though I didn’t recognise the places mentioned in Stay, apart from the nearest town being Cheltenham, where I live. I was also excited to learn that the author is Writer-in-Residence for Cheltenham Festivals.

I simply adored Stay! Caitlin is both smart and naive at the same time. She knows what’s going on, but she isn’t mature enough to deal with it. And then there’s the children – thirteen-year-old Henna and five-year-old Daisy. They need her, they trust her and she is starting to love them back. Is she the only person who is trustworthy in this strange set-up?

And it is strange. Marcus and Mimi are married – or are they? You wouldn’t think so at times. They grow weed on an industrial scale in polytunnels, have secret ‘offices’ and supposedly rescue unmarried mothers. It’s the pandemic (remember that?), so the children don’t go to school, but they don’t have the internet so they can’t learn online. Then in walks Caitlin, perfectly placed to tutor them.

And she is very happy to do so until her phone disappears and no-one wants to help her find it or go into the nearest big town to get a charger or even replace it if it can’t be found. She desperately wants to tell her mum and sisters that she is OK. The only way she can contact them is by mail.

Initially there seems to be a simple reason for everything, but she soon realises that she is trapped, and not just by the pandemic. What’s more, she doesn’t even know exactly where she is if she wanted someone to come and get her. She just knows she’s in Gloucestershire, a long way from her home in Cornwall.

Stay is a slow burn, with us the reader, discovering the truth alongside Caitlin, as it becomes more terrifying and sinister. It’s a great story – I haven’t really read anything like this before.

There is also a backdrop of traditional folk songs, which Caitlin learnt from her grandmother, and sings to the girls at night, sometimes making up her own words.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours and to NetGalley for an ARC.

About the Author

Jane Bailey was born and brought up in Gloucestershire, where she now lives. She has written seven novels, including Lark Song, What Was Rescued and Tommy Glover’s Sketch of Heaven, and has been shortlisted for the Dillons Fiction prize and the RNA award. She has edited four anthologies of work by young people as Writer-in-Residence for Cheltenham Festivals, First Story and Gloucestershire Hospitals Education Service.