The House Next Door
by Anne Rivers Siddons
List Price: $6.50
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0061008737
Publisher: HarperCollins
Walter and Colquitt Kennedy love their neighborhood, with
its genteel parties, friendly neighbors and the great view out their windows.
But then the Harralsons buy the beautiful empty lot next door and hire
the young, incredibly talented Kim Dougherty to build their dream house.
At first the Kennedy's bemoan the loss of their lovely view, but soon
strike up a friendship with their new neighbors and an even closer relationship
with Kim. And then the mysterious mishaps begin. They start small, missing
pets, strangely butchered wildlife, but soon the tragedies escalate. At
the Harralson's first housewarming party, the new house receives full
town approval and glowing reviews, but Kim detects something wrong, "there's
something in this house I didn't put here. I can feel it, I can hear it
talking to me, but I can't understand what it's saying." At first, Colquitt's
mind balks at the idea of a "haunted house," but she cannot ignore the
growing number of tragedies associated with it. It is as if the house
preys on its inhabitants' weaknesses and slowly destroys the goodness
in them, ultimately driving them to disgrace, madness, and even death.
As the house's influence grows and begins to extend to its closest neighbors,
Colquitt and Walter find themselves caught up in a desperate struggle
to keep their sanity and marriage intact. Desperate to find some means
of warning each successive family that moves in before it's too late,
the Kennedys risk losing their friendships, their happiness, perhaps even
their very existence, to the mysterious force that is tearing their neighborhood
apart.
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1. How does the house drive the Kennedys toward madness? What is it that enables them to resist for so long? In the end, do they defeat the house, or does it defeat them?
2. Why is it so hard for the Kennedy's to warn the town and even their closest friends? How do their attempts backfire? When Claire is finally convinced of the house's danger, why won't she help Colquitt?
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