In The Little Stranger, Waters gives herself another sort of handicap with the dull doctors narration. The result? Many readers who enjoyed The Night Watch read it twice. After proving her genius for plotting in the Gothic Victorian books which made her name, she wrote a novel in which the point was not what happened next. But she is also an artist compelled to experiment. 'Waters is often described as a brilliant storyteller, and so she is.

Waters reflects on the collapse of the British class system after WWII in a stunning haunted house tale. Sarah Waters as one of the finest and most exciting novelists writing today. Psychological suspense in years, The Little Stranger confirms Something more sinister than a dying way of life, something that could subsumeīoth a nuanced evocation of 1940s England and the most chill-inducing novel of And Faraday begins to wonder if they are all threatened by Faraday becomes increasingly entwined in the Ayreses' lives, signs ofĪ more disturbing nature start to emerge, both within the family and in Hundreds Means having little chance for a life of her own beyond Hundreds.īut as Dr. Prepared to continue doing the work a team of servants once handled, even if it Hold on to the gracious habits of a gentler era and Caroline seems cheerfully Sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. Is desperate to keep the house and what remains of the estate together for the Roddie Ayres, who returned from World War II physically and emotionally wounded, Struggling to adjust to a society with new values and rules. All around, the world is changing, and the family is Home to the Ayres family for over twoĬenturies, the once grand house is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to see a From the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of The Night WatchĪnd Fingersmith comes an astonishing novel about love, loss, and the

The little stranger book review