Teen Fiction

The Uninvited

Name: The Uninvited
Author: Tim Wynne-Jones
ISBN: 9780763639846

by Tim Wynne-Jones

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father's remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.

2009 Parents' Choice Recommended Seal winner

Synopsis

Mimi Shapiro needs to get away. From New York City, from NYU. And from the professor who let things go too far. So when her artist father, Marc, offers his cottage in a remote part of Canada, she gladly hops in her Mini Cooper and drives up north. Way up north.

The little house is fairy-tale quaint, and the key is hidden right where her dad said it would be, so she's shocked to find someone already living there — Jay, a young musician, who is equally startled to meet Mimi and immediately accuses her of being the one who's been leaving strange and threatening tokens for him: a dead bird, a snake skin, a cricket soundtrack imbedded in his latest composition. But Mimi has just arrived, so who is responsible? And more alarmingly, what does the intruder want?

Publishers Weekly

Wynne-Jones (Rex Zero, King of Nothing) creates a tale of twisted family ties that begins with a college coed running from an affair turned sour. Wanting to get as far away as possible from NYU-and the professor who is stalking her-Mimi heads to Canada to stay at her artist father's long-abandoned country cottage. When she arrives, she is startled to find the house occupied by a stranger, Jackson (Jay) Page, a half-brother she didn't know existed. After the siblings agree to temporarily share living quarters, more surprises are in store as personal items go missing and Mimi has the eerie sensation of being watched. In chapters focusing on a local and his mother, readers get hints about the big picture, but suspense remains high as the book races to its climax. The characters have strong voices and personalities-their realness, coupled with the idyllic setting, contrasts starkly (and thrillingly) with the story's dark side. If the number of letches and unbalanced individuals that Mimi attracts appears extreme, readers will probably be too caught up in the action to care. Ages 14-up. (May)

About the Author, Tim Wynne-Jones

Tim Wynne-Jones has won numerous awards for his work, including an Edgar Award, a Governor General’s Literary Award, and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. He is a faculty member at Vermont College, teaching in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, as well as the author of more than twenty books for children and young adults, including the popular Rex Zero books. Tim Wynne-Jones lives in Ontario with his family.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature - Janis Flint-Ferguson

Mimi Shapiro makes arrangements with her father to spend time hidden away in his Canadian cottage. She is not particularly close to her father but has built a relationship with this man who was never really a part of her life. She is looking to avoid a married boyfriend and reassess her college career, but when she arrives at the cottage there is already someone living there, a young local musician, Jackson Page, known as Jay. In the shadows, there is the strange young man, Cramer, who lives with his mother in the backwaters and seems to be stalking Jackson and Mimi. Cramer supports his artistic mother who struggles with emotional and psychological problems. He keeps his distance but is drawn to the cottage and may be responsible for some minor thefts. Jay confides to Mimi his problems with his unwelcome intruder, and Mimi also experiences the uninvited presence, along with the unwanted attention of a local handyman. Mimi and Jay quickly develop a relationship based on the unusual circumstances surrounding the cottage, but Cramer seems to be related to something much more sinister. The interconnectedness of the three and the plot twists of the storyline fill the novel with an eerie suspense that will hook young adult readers; it is a novel that is hard to put down. Adult language and content means that this is a mystery for mature audiences. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson

VOYA - Ruth Cox Clark

When Mimi's attempt to upset her father by bringing her college professor as a date to his New York art gallery backfires, Mimi leaves town. The cabin where she seeks refuge is already occupied, however, by a young musician who accuses her of recent break-ins. When each insists they have the right to be in the idyllic cabin in rural Ontario, they discover they both do—they have the same father. Calling a truce, Mimi and Jay try to get to know each other, unaware they are being watched by reclusive Corbin. When not spying on the siblings or working two jobs, Corbin cares for his mentally unstable mother. Another visit from the break-in artist has Mimi taking her unresponsive laptop to the computer repair shop where Corbin quickly fixes the problem (that he created) and gives Mimi his phone number in case she needs future help. It is the number her father wrote twenty years before on the cabin's studio wall—Corbin knows who his father is. The dark and stormy cover art may attract mystery readers, but all who open this book will stay to vicariously watch these siblings discover details about the father who walked away from them as easily as he did from the old paint-splattered studio. With touches of second person narrative, chapters alternate the focus from one sibling to the other as each responds to their complicated family dynamics unfolding. This suspenseful and deftly crafted family drama will appeal to older teens who are exploring their options beyond high school. Reviewer: Ruth Cox Clark

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up–Mimi Shapiro, film studies major at NYU, leaves her predatory professor lover and escapes to a remote Canadian cottage that belongs to her father, Marc Soto, a prominent artist who walked out on Mimi and her mom years before. She finds the cottage occupied by Jay Page, a music student who is also Marc’s progeny by a local woman. Despite knowing nothing of one another, the half-siblings forge a quick bond and investigate a series of odd occurrences at the cottage. They discover a hidey-hole under a trapdoor in the floor with an escape tunnel, raising alarm that escalates after a break-in. The story unfolds in alternating viewpoints between Mimi and local loner Cramer Lee, yet another secret Marc Soto offspring, who lives nearby with his mentally unstable artist mother. Cramer supports her by working two jobs and spends his spare time working out with weights and spying on Jay and Mimi. Despite the thriller premise, the tension tends to be tepid, bogged down by overly picturesque descriptions of surroundings, clothing, and cuisine. Cramer’s character is well developed and sympathetic in his pathological shyness and twisted maternal relationship. City girl Mimi enthusiastically takes on rural life and travel by kayak, growing past self-absorption, but Wynne-Jones devotes more space to her possessions than her qualities. Jay remains peculiarly flat for a passionate musician. The complications and improbability of suddenly becoming family thrust upon the three are largely untapped.–Joyce Adams Burner, National Archives at Kansas City, MO

Kirkus Reviews

A selfish New York painter fathered three children by different mothers in his reckless youth. Now young adults, the spoiled college coed, the introspective classical composer and the disenfranchised factory worker discover each other when each of them has cause to visit their father's old studio in rural Canada. As their lives begin to intersect, one of them unknowingly introduces a murderous presence into their midst, an action that will have tragic consequences for them all. While the cover and title of Wynne-Jones's latest suggests a supernatural mystery, what emerges from the mist is more suspenseful family drama than haunted-house tale. The mystery of how the trio is linked would have been more satisfying had the author not spelled out their connections so plainly. Still, the three separate viewpoints he incorporates are compelling, the climax is truly heart-pounding and the beautifully evoked bucolic setting comes from behind to play a starring role. Older teen readers looking for something akin to Celia Rees's sensual, brooding The Wish House (2005) will not be disappointed. (Mystery. 14 & up)