An Unexpected Guest

A Novel

By: Anne Korkeakivi

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

Clare Moorhouse, the American wife of a high-ranking diplomat in Paris, is arranging an official dinner crucial to her husband's career. As she shops for fresh stalks of asparagus and works out the menu and seating arrangements, her day is complicated by the unexpected arrival of her son and a random encounter with a Turkish man, whom she discovers is a suspected terrorist.

Like Virginia Woolf did in Mrs. Dalloway, Anne Korkeakivi brilliantly weaves the complexities of an age into an act as deceptively simple as hosting a dinner party.

Critic reviews

"Anne Korkeakivi's writing has all the best qualities of an Ishiguro novel. Clare, a seemingly selfless diplomat's wife, the epitome of restraint and hermetic detachment, unravels before us into a woman of dangerous allegiances, passions, and moral dilemmas, in prose that is both beautiful and razor sharp. Paris is depicted with subtle complexity, a city that reposes as it threatens, full of scorn and grace. Korkeakivi's sense of detail is remarkable while grounded in authenticity. An Unexpected Guest is a feast of a novel."—George Hagen, author of The Laments

"A taut tender suspenseful novel, delicately told."—Fernanda Eberstadt, author of Rat and The Furies

"Anne Korkeakivi writes wonderfully about embassy manners, food, and Paris, and she writes even better about the darker world that threatens to disrupt not just Clare's seating plan for dinner but her entire life. An Unexpected Guest, like its heroine, is a novel of great elegance, enormous surprises, and unexpected depths."—Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street

"Anne Korkeakivi knows her expat life as well as the protocol of diplomacy-from the flowers and trees and markets of Paris to the meetings behind closed doors. Clare is an observant, intelligent woman whose elegant existence includes endless dinner arrangements, to-do lists, and the necessity of irreproachable behavior. Yet she has a secret that seems destined to burst and shatter her comfortable life and that of her family. An Unexpected Guest will draw you in and keep you breathlessly turning pages, even as you admire its intelligence and fine writing."—Thomas E. Kennedy, author of In the Company of Angels and Falling Sideways

"An Unexpected Guest is a lovingly detailed account of a day in the life of the wife of a British diplomat in Paris. But what a day! She deals with protocol, place settings and a temperamental cook and at the same time a troubled son, an Irish complication, and a suspected Turkish terrorist. Virginia Woolf meets Eric Ambler - and readers meet a charming heroine who rises to all occasions."—John Casey, National Book Award-winning author of Spartina and Compass Rose:

"Korkeakivi creates a Paris as crisp and unruffled as her heroine--and just as likely to surprise."—Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes

"Deep private tension animates the perfect ambassador's wife as she manages one of the most important days of her husband's career, the complexities of her surprising past converging rapidly upon the present where an entire emotional life is balancing on a delicate, invisible wire. A beautifully written novel about living with our many selves. "—Nicola Keegan, author of Swimming

One day in the life

When an author can take a few loose threads of a plot and bring them all together in a very full story, I find myself in book heaven. I honestly wasn't expecting that much when I started this book. What could be riveting about one day in the life of a deputy ambassador's wife in Paris preparing a dinner party that evening? Yet, the story builds and builds until you are hooked and can't stop listening.

For a story of this type, characters matter. Anne Korkeakivi delivered with very believable but interesting people.

If you are a fan of the classic novels "Mrs. Dalloway" or "The Hours", you will find this book very comparable. The main difference, and NO spoilers here, but the ending is fantastic. I loved it and felt great when I finished the book.

Keeps you guessing.

Enjoyed the inner view of a diplomat's life from a wife's perspective. The intrigue about her past keeps the reader guessing.

Reconciling ones past with one's self isn't easy

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Reader was excellent, story compelling, yes.

What did you like best about this story?

We all have things to hide in our past, does anyone need to know really?

Have you listened to any of Ellen Archer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I like the reader alot, don't know if I've heard her before.

Did An Unexpected Guest inspire you to do anything?

No.

Any additional comments?

Story dragged in places and was underdeveloped in some areas.

Boring

This kind of story (a woman reviewing her life as she prepares for a dinner party) has been written already by Virginia Woolf and Michael Cunningham.They did it with charm, wit, and intelligence. Anne Korkeakivi is either a bad writer, or the narrator made it sound badly written. It was a total disappointment.

A Light Listen

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I found this an easy listen while doing chores but felt the main character was rather shallow. Guilt from our past can often overshadow our present and this aspect of the story kept me interested.