The Cellar

The CellarFrom the internationally bestselling, award winning crime writer Minette Walters, The Cellar is a harrowing, compulsively readable novel about a family of African immigrants, the Songolis, and the dark secret they keep hidden in the depths of their seemingly respectable British home. On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli's young son fails to come home from school, fourteen year old Muna's fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank

From the internationally bestselling, award-winning crime writer Minette Walters, The Cellar is a harrowing, compulsively readable novel about a family of African immigrants, the Songolis, and the dark secret they keep hidden in the depths of their seemingly respectable British home.

On the day Mr. and Mrs. Songoli's young son fails to come home from school, fourteen-year-old Muna's fortunes change for the better. Until then, her bedroom was a dank windowless cellar, her activities confined to cooking and cleaning. Over the years, she had grown used to being abused by the Songoli family--to being their slave.

Now that Scotland Yard has swarmed the Songoli house to investigate the disappearance of the son, Muna is given a real bedroom, real clothing, and treated, at least nominally, as a daughter. But her world remains confined. She is not allowed to go outside, doesn't know how to read or write, and cannot speak English. At least that's what the Songolis believe. Before long it becomes clear that young Muna is far cleverer--and her plans more terrifying--than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine.


Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Published: 02/02/2016
ISBN: 9780802124517
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.60w x 0.90d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2015 pg. 78
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2015
Library Journal 11/01/2015 pg. 86
Booklist 11/01/2015 pg. 30
Publishers Weekly 12/21/2015
New York Times Book Review 02/07/2016 pg. 29
School Library Journal 05/01/2016 pg. 126
Library Journal 09/01/2015