The House Guest

This genre-defying ghost story is a classic of Australian young adult literature. When Gunno breaks into the quiet house with the big garden, he has no idea how it will change his life. Something about the place keeps drawing him back: its daytime silence, its solitude, and the mysterious upstairs bedroom that belongs—or belonged—to a boy very much like Gunno. As he unravels the mysteries of the house and the family that seems to half-live there, Gunno becomes less certain of his own place in the world—until his destiny is revealed in a chilling and transcendent conclusion. When it was first released in 1991, The House Guest swept the young adult literary awards, winning the Children's Book Council Book of the Year, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award and the SA Festival Award for Literature in its category. Screen rights have recently been optioned by one of Australia's most successful screenwriting teams. Eleanor Nilsson is a multi-award-winning author and has had twenty-four books published for children, from picture books to young adult novels, and one adult novel.