The Stone House (novel)

The Stone House was the second of the three originally planned Class novels, tied to the first series. It was written by A.K. Benedict.

Publisher's summary
"If you get out, you'd think you'd be one of the lucky ones. But you're not. The house infects you."

There's an old stone house near Coal Hill School. Most people hurry past it. They've heard the stories. But, if you stop, and look up, you'll see the face of a girl, pressed up against a window. Screaming.

Tanya finds herself drawn to the stone house. There's a mystery there, and she's going to solve it. But the more she investigates, the more she realises that there's a presence in the house. One that wants her.

Something is waiting for Tanya in the stone house. Something that has been trapping others in its web over the years. Something that is far worse than any ghosts.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Tanya Adeola
 * Andrea Quill
 * Charlie Smith
 * Matteusz Andrzejewski
 * April MacLean
 * Ram Singh
 * Vivian Adeola
 * Alice Parsons
 * Amira
 * Yana
 * Baba
 * Ummi
 * Zainer
 * Alan Turnpike
 * Constantine Oliver
 * Rajesh
 * Danny
 * Doug
 * DC Carpenter
 * DC Turner
 * Female bone spider
 * Baby bone spider

Individuals

 * Tanya Adeola has a neighbour named Mrs Cartwright.

Alien species

 * Miss Quill mentions Daleks.
 * Miss Quill mentions fire stallions.
 * There are aardvarks on the planet Rhodia.

London locations

 * The old stone house is at the end of an East End street.
 * Tanya has been to Spitalfields market.

Other Earth locations

 * Amira with her father, mother and sister Yana lived in Damascus in Syria until the war started.
 * Amira, Ummi and Yana crossed the border from Syria to Kahramanmaras on the Turkish side.
 * Ummi drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on their way from Turkey to Greece.
 * Tanya's aunt went for a holiday in Spain.

Extraterrestrial locations

 * Miss Quill mentions the flame lake of Kabal.

Plants

 * Dandelions and overgrown roses grow in the garden of the old stone house.
 * Tanya sees geraniums.
 * The windows of the house are covered with ivy.
 * The back garden of the house is overgrown with nettle and dock leaf, which looks like nettle.

Animals

 * Trochulus hispidus is a species of snails with hairy shells.
 * Mrs Cartwright has a Collie.
 * Charlie draws ants.
 * A cat pisses on dandelions.
 * Tanya notices a pile of earth scurried up by a badger.
 * The hedges in the back garden of the old stone house have the shape similar to a squirrel or a woolly mammoth.
 * Tanya sees a dead wasp.

Human biology

 * Tanya read that even having not slept the night, a human still catches bits of non-REM sleep.

Food and drinks

 * Tanya often eats Shreddies in the evening.
 * Charlie and Matteusz Andrzejewski drink orange juice.
 * Miss Quill really loves coffee.
 * April MacLean gives Tanya and Ram Singh apples to eat.
 * Vivian Adeola prepares lasagna for dinner.
 * Miss Quill eats sausage and egg for breakfast.
 * Ram eats waffles with bacon and maple syrup.
 * Teachers at Coal Hill School eat a lot of jam doughnuts.
 * Amira feeds off tomato soup, tinned pasta, beans and mandarin segments.
 * Miss Quill can tell amontillado by the smell of an empty bottle.
 * Amira uses alphabet spaghetti to spell a warning to the Coal Hill defenders.

Organisations

 * Tanya often tries hacking the Pentagon.
 * To gather information about the house, Tanya impersonates a representative of the Mass Observation Centre at the local library.

Science

 * Miss Quill mentions underlying prames of the Renyalin series. April thinks that she means primes.
 * Miss Quill is wondering if the Rift is causing an uplift in temperatures.

Earth technology

 * April uses Nair tubes to remove hair.
 * Tanya and Ram communicate via DM and FaceTime.
 * During a heat wave, April uses a battery-operated fan.
 * Amira communicated with Baba using Whatsapp before losing her phone in the sea.

Alien technology

 * Miss Quill mentions an authenticating gun capable.

Gardening

 * Flowers such as roses are supposed to be deadheaded.

Culture

 * The old stone house would have been too gothic for the Addams Family.
 * Miss Quill warns the Coal Hill defenders that her relationship with them is not similar to the one depicted in Dead Poets Society.
 * Tanya calls the bag packed for her and Ram by April "Mary Poppins handbag".
 * Tanya thinks the overgrowth in the back garden of the old house looks like topiary.
 * The inside of the conservatory reminds Tanya of a scene from Great Expectations if Miss Havisham were a keen gardener.
 * Spain was famous for flamenco and castanets.
 * Miss Quill enjoys Orange is the New Black.
 * The Coal Hill defenders find old issues of Beano and Dandy comic books for children.

Religion

 * Amira often prays that, insha'Allah, she sees Baba searching for his family.

Minerals

 * Miss Quill has a knife made from rare Kalthagon stone.

Continuity

 * Miss Quill asks if her students have been replaced again. (PROSE: Joyride)
 * After their first kiss (TV: Nightvisiting), Ram and April started dating.
 * Matteusz has moved in with Charlie. (TV: Nightvisiting)
 * When Ram calls April Miss Quill Mark 2, Miss Quill says that it is an insult to the real Miss Quill Mark 2, who "did her best but war was not for her". It is not clear whether she is speaking about her sister. (TV: Nightvisiting)
 * The events of this story are set between Nightvisiting and Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart.

Audio release
to be added