Product Description

* The brilliant and chilling new novel from Sarah Waters - longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009 * 'Sarah Waters has worked a spell' GUARDIAN

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #714 in Books
• Published on: 2010-01-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Features

• New
• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

Review
'A gripping story ... As well as being a supernatural tale, it is a meditation on the nature of the British and class, and how things are rarely what they seem. Chilling' Kate Mosse, The Times --Kate Mosse, The Times

'A brilliantly observed story, verging on the comedy, about Britain on the cusp of modern age ... The writing is subtle and poised' Joy lo Dico, Independent on Sunday --Joy lo Dico, Independent on Sunday

'Displaying her remarkable flair for period evocation, Waters recreates backwater Britain just after the Second World War with atmospheric immediacy ... Acute and absorbing' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times --Peter Kemp, Sunday Times

'Waters is often described as a brilliant storyteller, and so she is. But she is also an artist compelled to experiment ... Waters gives herself a sort of handicap with the dull doctor's narration. This indirectness, which in cruder hands might have led to yawning insurrection in the reader, becomes essential to the novels unsettling power' Claudia Fitzherbert, Daily Telegraph
--Claudia Fitzherbert, Daily Telegraph

Review
`A gripping story, with beguiling characters . . . As well as being a supernatural tale, it is a meditation on the nature of the British and class, and how things are rarely what they seem. Chilling' Kate Mosse, The Times, Summer Read

Review
'While at one turn, the novel looks to be a ghost story, the next it is a psychological drama . . . But it is also a brilliantly observed story, verging on the comedy, about Britain on the cusp of modern age . . . The writing is subtle and poised' Joy lo Dico, Independent on Sunday

Customer Reviews

The Fall of the House of Ayres
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.

Spooky thriller, different from her other books, but still worth reading
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.

Be patient
I found this book compelling and literally chilling reading - I was actually freezing sometimes as I read it. Sarah Waters takes her time building up an atmosphere of calm and normality, only to disconcert the reader when it's least expected and create a sense of unease which lasts throughout the novel. But you need to be patient - it's quietly disturbing, not in-your-face terrifying. It reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Remains of the Day' with its depiction of the end of an era, the comparison of pre- and post-war life for the upper classes and their stately homes, and the slow, deliberate style of the protagonist/narrator figure, whose neck you would sometimes galdly wring, or backside happily kick. Review writers on this site have criticized The Little Stranger for being boring: fine, but it's about atmosphere, not action and if you don't want that, then it's not the book for you. Others have said it's too long: but again, it takes time to build up atmosphere and if you find yourself losing patience after the first hundred pages or so, don't read on, because it moves at the same pace throughout. Then there are those who say that some of the characters are two- or even one-dimensional: and on reflection this a fair criticism for one or two of them. But nothing's perfect, not even a Sarah Waters novel. If you like her other books and you find yourself thinking as you read The Little Stranger 'where is this book taking me?', have faith and be patient. It gets there in the end - literally in the end.