The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

JUDGES' COMMENTS

This impressive first novel combines elements of a psychological thriller, magical realism and an intimate, truthful portrait of old age. Ruth, an elderly widow, lives alone in a seaside house and fears that a tiger is stalking her at night. Despite signs that her memory and imagination are colliding, she is determinedly independent until the arrival of Frida, a mysterious carer. Dignified and vulnerable, Ruth negotiates relationships with her absent sons and a long-ago lover, and remembers her childhood in Fiji, while Frida disturbingly insinuates herself into her life.

McFarlane writes about and through Ruth with mature skill and sensitivity. As her state of mind deteriorates, Ruth’s unreliable perspective distorts the reader’s perception, but she also glimpses the danger she faces. Frida, too, is a finely drawn character, aggressively cheerful and efficient, and a subtle ghost from the colonial past. The third-person narration shifts and withholds with tantalising ambiguity. Tension builds, time moves back and forth, questions of our society’s carelessness arise, all carried lightly by the unforced, sturdy elegance of McFarlane’s prose, with a perfect dash of humour. 

The Night Guest is an extraordinarily accomplished debut. Strong and stylishly confident, it displays a fluidity and clarity of purpose rarely found in a first novel. The narrative is effortless in its movement between states of consciousness and memory, between reality and unreality, past and present, humour and sorrow. The prose pulses with life and energy, yet remains perfectly controlled. The character of Ruth, so thoroughly alive and rendered with dignity, grace and above all, a deep humanity – is an artistic achievement of the highest order. Full of poise and poignancy, The Night Guest is an outstanding novel and a most worthy winner.