My huge thanks to Jane Corry for ensuring I received a copy of her latest novel, The Stranger in Room Six in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.
I had originally been asked to review The Stranger in Room Six by My Weekly, but recent changes mean those reviews are currently on hold until a new Fiction Editor is in place.
You’ll find my reviews of Jane’s We All Have Our Secrets, Coming to Find You and I Died on a Tuesday here.
The Stranger in Room Six was published by Penguin on 19th June 2025 and is available for purchase through the links here.
The Stranger in Room Six
You may not know the stranger in room six. But they know everything about you.
It’s been fifteen years since Belinda was convicted of her husband’s murder. Now, she’s ready for her life to begin again, and she’s set on that happening at Sunnyside Home for the Young at Heart.
The owner, Mabel, has spent her life here. First as an evacuee during the Blitz and now as the care home’s oldest resident, Mabel has held the secrets of this house for as long as she can remember. Secrets that could kill if in the wrong hands.
But history won’t stay hidden forever and someone is onto them both. Watching and listening from room number six, they’ll stop at nothing to find out the truth.
With a past this dark, is anyone as innocent as they seem?
My Review of the Stranger in Room Six
Belinda’s life is in turmoil.
The Stranger in Room Six is what might be termed a ‘proper story‘. It’s packed with history, intrigue and a wide range of relationships so that it has something for every reader. The way in which the various strands of the narrative are drawn together is so cleverly done.
I’m not usually a fan of multiple timelines, but The Stranger in Room Six is woven together really effectively and, actually, requires the modern day and 1940s eras in order to illustrate the way history and the actions of the past reverberate through the lives of the characters.
Both Belinda and Mabel are complex individuals who show that literal truth does not necessarily reflect moral or intentional behaviours. Initially I found Mabel rather naïve, but realised that she needed to have that innocence in order to be malleable and that, in fact, she was very much a child of the era. Both women have secrets, they both do the wrong things for the right reasons and the right things for the wrong reasons. Both face tragedy partly of their own making, and yet neither intended their actions to have the consequences they did. This is a fascinating aspect of the plot
Along with that intricate, engaging and carefully crafted plot, there are thought-provoking themes in The Stranger in Room Six. Family and parenthood are central and I found Belinda’s estrangement from her daughter Gillian very moving. Equally interesting is the impact of the past on our lives. However, I think the most riveting aspect of The Stranger in Room Six is the consideration of revenge, retribution and redemption. This is the kind of narrative that leaves the reader questioning how they might have behaved in similar circumstances. Add in other aspects like marriage, dementia, friendship and trust and The Stranger in Room Six feels like a story to ponder long after the final page is read.
I also found the settings impactful and in many ways, place equates to character as it shapes Belinda and Mabel every bit as the secondary characters do. Belinda’s time in prison feels authentic and disturbing so that the reader cannot help but empathise with her even if she is deemed to be a murderer. I loved the way history has a physical consequence on Sunnyside Home for the Young at Heart – but you’ll need to read the book to see what I mean. It was fascinating how the house reinvented itself over time – just like a real person.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Stranger in Room Six and it proves that Jane Corry really knows how to craft a drama that reels in her readers and keeps them entirely gripped and entertained throughout.
About Jane Corry
Jane Corry is a prize-winning author and journalist (Daily Telegraph and women’s magazines) who worked for three years as the writer in residence of a high security male prison. This experience helped inspire her Sunday Times Penguin bestsellers My Husband’s Wife, Blood Sisters, The Dead Ex, I Looked Away, I Made A Mistake, To Tell The Truth, The Lies We Tell, We All Have Our Secrets, Coming To Find You, I Died On A Tuesday and The Stranger In Room Six. She has now sold over 1.5 million copies of her books world-wide.
Jane worked as an RLF Fellow at Exeter University and is a former creative writing tutor at Oxford University. She also writes short stories; features for The Daily Telegraph and speaks at literary festivals all over the world. Many of her ideas strike during morning dog-jogs along the beach followed by a dip in the sea – no matter how cold it is!
Jane is also published by Doubleday in the USA and Canada.
For further information, follow Jane on Twitter/X @JaneCorryAuthor or visit her website. You’ll also find Jane on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram.
English (US) · 