The Little Stranger

Even though this is a period novel, I read this story for its Gothic horror and literary acumen. Repression of memories, feelings, and guilt struck me throughout. Dr. Faraday discovers ghostly mysteries at Hundreds Hall, and his romance with Caroline is spooky enough, but this ghost story is grounded in reality.

Who is the little stranger haunting the premises? I sunk deeply into this story, drinking up the beauty. But the ending! Wow. Brilliantly revealed and aptly placed on the final page. Sarah Waters hides the ghost in plain sight, and yet I was surprised at the conclusion—delightfully so. I’m… show more.

When an author combines a haunted house novel with an unreliable narrator and a theme that has to do with class envy, I’m in.

I love how Sarah Waters creates a decaying mansion that seems to represent the decaying class of the owners, a narrator whose motivations may or may not be what they seem, and an ending that is both surprising and satisfying—and that makes me question everything that came before.

Psychological fiction at its best; this book enthralled me and kept me guessing till the last minute. It led me down a twisty and winding path until I realized everything I thought I knew was not what it had seemed.

The pre-war England setting really hit on my love of historical pieces soaked in atmosphere and tension. It definitely influenced me as a writer. I loved this book because it delivered the creepiness of a haunting so well that it kept me up at night. What I liked best, however, is that it validated my sense that the past is… show more.

I felt this story reaching out into my thoughts and my life while I was reading it, so I couldn’t wait to get back to it, and in this unsettling weirdness lies its power. I was utterly gripped by the author’s slow build-up of fear, grief, and madness in the family; I felt haunted by the house's invisible ‘something bad.’ I had to get back to this story at every opportunity, and I would wake up thinking about the characters and wondering what would happen to them. 

This book is a unique take on the haunted house trope that is just so striking. It has genuinely frightening scenes that don’t depend on anything but tension and careful pacing.

Sarah Waters’ writing is always a gut-punch of beauty but this novel, in particular, has roamed around my head for years. It’s so masterfully written. I feel like I’ve seen the house, lived in it, loved it just like the protagonist. 

I adored this fascinating twist on poltergeists! In writing about ghosts, what’s important isn’t only the stories of the dead but their relationship with the living.

The Ayres family—failing aristocrats in a decrepit mansion—might be haunted by the ghost of a dead Ayres child or else by an imposter. What fascinated me was the way their love and loss make them vulnerable to predation. It’s a quietly disturbing story with a very unquiet payoff.

This isn't a happy book, but it's intensely atmospheric and intriguing. I loved the depiction of a family trying to keep up appearances while their once-beautiful house crumbles. Small details of clothing and things like riveted teacups (which I had to look up) show an inevitable decline that goes from gradual to catastrophic. The reader sees everything over the shoulder of the narrator, a doctor who has his own history with the family and the house. When strange and terrible things happen, he steps in to help, but it's not clear if he's telling the truth. Is the evil supernatural… show more.

I love this story of a country house and its family in decline, haunted by the creepy presence of the little stranger. The doctor whose mother once worked as a maid at Hundreds Hall does his best to support the eccentric family as the disturbances threaten to overwhelm them. In doing so, he becomes an increasingly intimate part of the mystery. 

I love a classic haunted house tale and this is Sarah Waters’ version. The story of Hundreds Hall and its poverty-stricken inhabitants, the Ayres family, has all the hallmarks of a classic gothic novel, but the book works equally well as social commentary. Set after the Second World War, everyone is haunted; by family secrets, regrets, and resentments, by the scars of war, by nostalgia for a prosperous past now faded into memory. The supernatural elements are gloriously creepy, building at a measured pace to an understated but impactful ending. The best ghost stories leave us with questions and this… show more.

I was expecting a ghost story. But making my way through Dr. Faraday’s narrative as he told of a house taking a terrible toll on the family living there, I came to appreciate the author’s approach. If you’re in the mood for a wonderfully written novel about a stately home infested with an evil you cannot quite put a name to, then, by all means, grab the book.