The Caretaker

You remind me of my uncle's brother. He was always on the move, that man. Never without his passport. Had an eye for the girls. Very much your build. Bit of an athlete. Long-jump specialist. He had a habit of demonstrating different run-ups in the drawing-room round about Christmas time. Had a penchant for nuts. In a dilapidated house in West London, three men - kind but damaged Aston, the shambling tramp he invites to stay, and Aston's violently unpredictable brother Mick - fall into an unsettling and darkly funny tussle for power. The Caretaker was first performed at the Arts Theatre, London, in April 1960. ' There's such craft and concision to Pinter's depiction of a triangular territorial battle in a run-down West London attic that it still sets the bar inspirationally high. The play is both of its period and timeless, conveying the wider human condition in its tightly particular evocation of hardship and dispossession, its dialogue so wryly attuned to the way ordinary speech can be loaded and weaponised that it even got its own classification: "the comedy of menace".' Daily Telegraph ' A modern classic, a spiritual shocker, tough, cruel and brutally funny . . . Pinter transfixes the modern human condition in which people are both intruders and prisoners, aggressors and victims, pushers and fantasists. This is your life. ' Sunday Times

You remind me of my uncle's brother. He was always on the move, that man. Never without his passport. Had an eye for the girls. Very much your build. Bit of an athlete. Long-jump specialist. He had a habit of demonstrating different run-ups in the drawing-room round about Christmas time. Had a penchant for nuts. In a dilapidated house in West London, three men - kind but damaged Aston, the shambling tramp he invites to stay, and Aston's violently unpredictable brother Mick - fall into an unsettling and darkly funny tussle for power. The Caretaker was first performed at the Arts Theatre, London, in April 1960. ' There's such craft and concision to Pinter's depiction of a triangular territorial battle in a run-down West London attic that it still sets the bar inspirationally high. The play is both of its period and timeless, conveying the wider human condition in its tightly particular evocation of hardship and dispossession, its dialogue so wryly attuned to the way ordinary speech can be loaded and weaponised that it even got its own classification: "the comedy of menace".' Daily Telegraph ' A modern classic, a spiritual shocker, tough, cruel and brutally funny . . . Pinter transfixes the modern human condition in which people are both intruders and prisoners, aggressors and victims, pushers and fantasists. This is your life. ' Sunday Times

'One of the great American authors at work today' New York Times ONE OF THE NEW YORKER 'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR It is 1951. The close-knit community of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, does not welcome those who are different. Jacob Hampton's wealthy parents disinherited him when he married Naomi, an uneducated hotel maid. Now Jacob has been called up to fight in Korea, leaving a pregnant Naomi behind. The only person he can trust to take care of her is his lifelong friend, Blackburn Gant. Blackburn, who tends the local cemetery, is an outsider too, his appearance irrevocably altered by childhood disease. Slowly the two outcasts grow closer and as they await news of Jacob's return, a terrible, shattering act of deception derails all their lives. But no secret can stay hidden for ever. Tender and luminous with truth, The Caretaker is a riveting story about the bonds of friendship, the contradictions of family and what it really means to love.

STOP PRESS! HOLLYWOOD TAKES ON THE CARETAKER ! To be adapted by Universal Studios... Horror maestro David Bruckner set to direct... Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce... Follow the Rites... Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake. From Marcus Kliewer, a new ‘titan of the macabre and unsettling’ (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes a supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined. EXCITING OPPORTUNITY: Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY. Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for. Besides, it’s only three days’ work… Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness. What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity. Follow the Rites... Follow the Rites... Follow the Rites... ..--- / ..... / ---..

STOP PRESS! HOLLYWOOD TAKES ON THE CARETAKER ! To be adapted by Universal Studios... Horror maestro David Bruckner set to direct... Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce... Follow the Rites... Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake. From Marcus Kliewer, a new ‘titan of the macabre and unsettling’ (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes a supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined. EXCITING OPPORTUNITY: Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY. Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for. Besides, it’s only three days’ work… Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness. What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity. Follow the Rites... Follow the Rites... Follow the Rites... ..--- / ..... / ---..