Slade House | David Mitchell

"Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, you just might find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet yhou by name and invte you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents extend an invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside? For those who find out, it's already too late"--