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The Little Stranger |  | Author: Sarah Waters
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $9.93
as of 3/12/2010 22:23 CST details
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Seller: bulldogbooks8
Rating:  reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 1594488800
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781594488801
ASIN: 1594488800
Publication Date: April 30, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9781594488801 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A chilling and vividly rendered ghost story set in postwar Britain, by the bestselling and award-winning author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith.
Sarah Waters's trilogy of Victorian novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith earned her legions of fans around the world, a number of awards, and a reputation as one of today's most gifted historical novelists. With her most recent book, The Night Watch, Waters turned to the 1940s and delivered a tender and intricate novel of relationships that brought her the greatest success she has achieved so far. With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940s-and gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Waters's work.
The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline-its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.
Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waters's most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.
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| Customer Reviews:
 well-written but plot was poor March 11, 2010
bookmagic (NY)
he Little Stranger takes place in post WWII England. Dr. Faraday, the narrator, is called the Hundreds Hall, a once wealthy estate, to treat a maid, Betty. Faraday remembers it from his youth, when his mother was a servant there. The Ayreses still live there, albeit in much reduced circumstances: Mrs Ayres, spinster daughter Caroline and, Roderick, the wounded in battle older brother, who is trying to keep the estate afloat. Faraday becomes a confidant to the family, ingratiating himself though he is not of their class. Strange things begin to happen, but Faraday sees it as mental illness in the family,not a haunting of the house, yet becomes obsessed with the decrepit house himself.
my review: I had high expectations of this book being a Gothic, psychological thriller. However, the book just did not give me that. I understand where the author was going, but it took way too many pages to even start to get there. The atmosphere was appropriate as were the characters. The novel was well-written if it had been a story about the downfall of the landed gentry in a changing society. But it just did not strike my thriller bone (that sounds dirty). Though Dr. Faraday was creepy enough, something was missing. The problem may have been the choice of narrator. I think it might have been better from Caroline's point of view. When it was over, I just felt disappointed. There was potential but in it's 480 pages, it just never made it. Good writing, bad plot.
A better read in the genre would be The House Next Door by Anne River Siddon, a five star book in my opinion.
my rating 3/5
 Reminded me of Thomas Hardy February 24, 2010
Adam Missner (Roswell, GA United States)
Just finished this terrifically well written ghost story. This was given to me by a friend who provides me most of my SciFi loaner books, and while I don't have the story yet of how he came to recommend it, I am glad for it. I know it is blasphemy to compare a novel to TV, but The Little Stranger is a lot like the TV show Lost. If you think to hard about it you realize not much is really happening and what is actually happening is quite understandable. Still since it is presented so vividly, it is easy to be shocked or startled by it. Some of the scenes just snuck up on me and my heart was racing as I digested what had just happened, even though it really wasn't much. This aspect of the writing and tragedy of the story reminded me greatly of Thomas Hardy, which is all the better as he is one of my favorite authors. If you are in the mood for a deep, thoughtful story, that is more of a mystery than a horror novel, this is a book you will want to read.
 Psychodramatic Ghost Tale February 23, 2010
J. L. Rubenking (Cleveland, OH USA)
This is a fun little psychological piece of work. Set in post-war (WWII) England, Waters brings us into the crumbling lives, both literally and figuratively, of the formerly grand Ayres family clinging to their falling-down estate, Hundreds Hall. Our protagonist, Dr. Faraday, a middle-aged country physician, is called to the Hall one night to attend to a servant. He is dismayed to see the Hall again after a number of years, as its current state of decrepitude is a far cry from the 'glory days' when Faraday's mother once worked there as a housemaid.
Once he meets the family; mother, daughter, and son, Faraday's visits become regular - he begins to treat Roderick Ayres' lingering leg injuries incurred during the war, and in so doing, becomes familiar with Caroline, Rod's sister, and the still patrician Mrs. Ayres. Faraday is drawn to the house and the family, which endured its own tragedy long ago when the eldest child, Susan, died as a youngster. When Roderick begins acting irrationally, claiming that an 'infection' is within him and threatening everyone in the house, Faraday fears for his patient's fragile mental health. He enlists the help of Caroline, and in so doing, feels the start of an attraction for the sturdy spinster sister.
Odd things happen in Hundreds Hall, from the sudden attack of the old family dog on a young guest, to the outbreak of a suspicious fire in Roderick's room, which so alarms his doctor and family that Rod is trucked off to a sanitarium for his and his family's safety. Faraday's relationship with Caroline grows romantic, even though Caroline remains less enthused about moving it forward physically. Even as Faraday presses for an engagement and marriage, he and Caroline are shocked to see Mrs. Ayres displaying some alarming behaviors. Everyone in the house can hear the old servant call bells and whistles start up again, animated by some unseen force. But Mrs. Ayres hears her dead daughter whispering to her, and begins to suffer cuts and bruises, as if tormented by some spirit.
Waters keeps the question of ghost versus mental illness balanced nicely. Faraday rationalizes all of the incidents as only a doctor can, but one begins to wonder why he is so dim about Caroline's hot and cold attitude toward the new life he's planning for them. Tragedy builds in the book in an insidious way, and the reader is left questioning, as Faraday does, exactly what is haunting Hundreds Hall...and its resident doctor.
A little tedious February 11, 2010
fancypants (St. Louis, MO USA)
I've read Sarah Waters' other novels and thought I might like this one as well. I was sadly disappointed. It was the way I felt when I read Donna Tartt's follow-up novel to "The Secret History." Great characters and development, but no story. I kept thinking that Faraday or Caroline would do something interesting. I kept reading. Nothing. It was tedious. Interesting period detail, to be sure, but a pitiful (and long, I might add) story. I would recommend this to someone who likes a generous helping of details (good lord, I was a bit overwhelmed by it -- enough already-- got it), lots of panicked moments and silly dialog. Maybe Sarah should spend more time on the next novel. Maybe Sarah should revisit "Affinity." That was a ghost story with an entertaining twist. A joy to read and discuss with others.
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