The Little Stranger (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

To be honest I have always had a bit of a soft spot for ghost stories but even allowing for a certain bias regarding the subject matter this is without doubt a blindingly good novel. On the surface it is all so deceptively simple. A country doctor, approaching a dreary and unloved middle age, finds himself paying regular visits to the local stately pile where he encounters the once grand but now rather moth-eaten Ayres family. Soon afterwards strange and seemingly supernatural events begin to take place: the formerly placid family dog attacks a small child; strange marks appear on the walls; bells ring for no apparent reason; doors occasionally seem to lock themselves and sinister scribbles inexplicably turn up on doors and windowsills. Dr Faraday seeks, and believes he finds, a rational explanation for the strange events but the Ayres are altogether less sure.

What makes this apparently rather simple set-up so compelling is the skill with which Waters applies layer after gentle, rustling layer of doubt, paranoia and unease. Dr Faraday is, for example, a far from perfect narrator. Unimaginative, class-conscious and painfully aware that he doesn't have the 'right accent' to fit in with the grand Ayres he finds himself alternating between cloying resentment towards the family one minute and fawning servility the next. In turn the Ayres have fallen on financially ruinous times and the - from their perspective - frankly unpleasant plebian classes are literally encroaching on Ayres territory in the form of council houses being built on land skirting Hundreds Hall. Working class on the way up collides with landed gentry on the way down. The whole situation is a portrait in minature of post-war England preparing to tear itself apart. Throw in a possible romance and an unhappy event from the Ayres's recent past and you have an explosive mixture - sort of 'Rebecca' meets 'The Turn of the Screw' via Borley Rectory.

I finished reading The Little Stranger a few days ago and it hasn't settled quietly into its grave. It rustles and creaks; it casts shadows where shadows really shouldn't be and it refuses to tie itself up into a neat little bundle of comfortable conclusions. The more I think about it the more wheels within wheels within wheels I begin to see. It's beautifully elegant and it flows in the way only novels written by born story-tellers ever seem to manage; and more than anything else it creeps up on you in subtle, disturbing ways. Sarah Waters is one of our finest novelists and while this may not have the immediate shock impact of, say, Fingersmith, I think in its quiet and deceptively gentle way it is every bit as good. A beautiful novel with dark, haunted depths.

The Fingersmith is my second favourite book of all time (after A Fine Balance), and so I was so excited about the release of Sarah Water's new book that I ordered a copy from America, just so I could read it a few weeks before it's UK release.

The Little Stranger is a Gothic, ghost story set in rural Warwickshire just after WWII. The central character is Dr. Faraday, who one day is called to a crumbling mansion to treat a maid who is so scared by things she has seen in the house that she wants to leave. Dr. Faraday is intrigued, by both the house and the Ayres family who live there, that he makes an effort to return to Hundreds Hall as often as he can. Increasingly strange events occur in the house, frightening and mystifying everyone who witnesses them.

The Little Stranger is very different to Fingersmith in both the style of writing, and plot development. The plot was linear, very easy to follow and structured like a fast-paced thriller. The quality of Sarah Water's writing is still high, but I think that this book will be much more accessible to the general public, and slightly disappointing to her old fans. The Little Stranger has much more in common with books like The Thirteenth Tale or The Seance, both of which I really enjoyed reading too, but don't require as much thought as Water's earlier books.

I was slightly disappointed with the ending, as although it wasn't predictable, it didn't have any of the clever plot twists that she is famous for. I shouldn't really complain though, as the book had me captivated throughout . All the characters were well developed, and the storyline was reasonably plausible. It was a gripping, spooky tale - perfect for a cold, dark Autumn night.

Recommended.

In her fifth historical novel, Sarah Waters turns away from the typical predominating lesbian lead characters and Victorian settings one would expect from the Welsh author, and takes us into the post-war countryside of rural Warwickshire.

Through the eyes of our narrator Doctor Faraday, the lonely, pragmatic country doctor, we witness the deterioration of Hundred's Hall, the once glorious home of the Ayres family. The story begins when Dr Faraday is called to Hundreds to treat the maid Betty, thus begins his nostalgic journey back to the estate where his mother had served. An unlikely friendship strikes between the doctor and the spinster daughter of the house and Faraday soon earn the trust of the family as inexplicable happenings begin to occur.

From its eerie hallways, crumbling masonry and overgrown, untamed grounds to the ominous stable yard clock permanently fixed to "twenty to nine", one wonders if there is something more sinister than the dying legacy of gentry lifestyle that is truly haunting the once-privileged upper-class trio.

Pre-occupied with multiple themes, Waters beautifully balances the issues surrounding the no-longer-so-glamorous lives of the landed gentry in post WWII England, with her focus never straying far from the dispersing of the class system. Faraday conflicts between feeling flattered yet undeserving of the Ayres' friendship, whilst the stubborn Mrs Ayres desperately tries to live in the past.

With her elegant prose and ability to compel, Waters takes us between the borderlands of the supernatural and psychopathological as we turn the pages faster and faster. The Little Stranger has everything you look for in your quintessential period Gothic piece, with a brilliant Sarah Waters twist.

This book will only start to haunt you the moment your head hits the pillow after finishing the final pages.