Courtney Psak Thrills Again in 'The Hostess'

In The Hostess, novelist Courtney Psak intrigues readers with a riveting psychological thriller that follows Natalie and Luke, a couple who retreat to an idyllic rental home in Southampton so that Natalie can rest and recover following a recent traumatic brain injury. When they arrive, they meet Sadie, the beautiful and wealthy owner of the house, and the two women connect immediately and form an instant friendship. While Natalie recuperates at the estate, Luke has to return to the city for work, and as Psak goes on to explain, “…he no sooner leaves then all of a sudden these weird things start happening around the house and Natalie’s a very rational person, so she’s trying to explain it away and say it’s the change of environment and my meds and everything, but as it gets more and more sinister, things start to happen and she starts to go, ‘Ok, who exactly is this woman and what are her secrets? What is she hiding?'”

Regarding the setting of The Hostess, Psak noted that she chose Southampton because the beauty of the location and estate created a misleading sense of comfort and security for the protagonist. She reflected, “…people idolize wealth and privilege… If you were to walk into a run-down house and weird things were happening, you’d get out immediately, but for some reason, we all have this facade like, ‘Well, if it’s maintained and it’s nice and it’s expensive, then everything must be fine…” And as readers find out, Sadie, who is incredibly affluent and well-off when we first meet her, was not always so privileged growing up. This important detail highlights the story’s overall theme: “Really, it doesn’t matter how well-off you are or not, no one can escape just basic human emotions. There’s no way to escape heartbreak, and jealousy, and insecurity. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you come from, we all have these natural emotions and we’re really not all that different from each other when you strip it down.”