The Little Stranger cover art

The Little Stranger

shortlisted for the Booker Prize

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The Little Stranger

By: Sarah Waters
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

 Now a major motion picture starring Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter and Charlotte Rampling, and directed by Lenny Abrahamson.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

'Sarah Waters's masterly novel is . . . gripping, confident, unnerving and supremely entertaining' Hilary Mantel

After her award-winning trilogy of Victorian novels, Sarah Waters turned to the 1940s and wrote THE NIGHT WATCH, a tender and tragic novel set against the backdrop of wartime Britain. Shortlisted for both the Orange and the Man Booker, it went straight to number one in the bestseller chart.

In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over 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 sinister 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.

Prepare yourself. From this wonderful writer who continues to astonish us, now comes a chilling ghost story.©2009 Sarah Waters Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Fiction Scary Haunted

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Critic reviews

Sarah Waters' masterly novel is gripping, confident, unnerving and supremely entertaining
The #1 book of the year... several sleepless nights are guaranteed
Gripping... 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
Waters has determined to scare the pants off her righly devoted audience. She succeeds unequivocally. You'll want to sleep with the light on (Erica Wagner)
The knowledge that something nasty is around the corner lends the narrative a compelling sense of unease. The richness of Waters' writing ensures that the air of thickening dread is very thick indeed . . . Waters is a brave writer. The Little Stranger is an engrossing, hugely enjoyable read with set pieces guaranteed to make anyone with a pulse gibber in fright (John Preston)
By now readers must be confident of her mastery of storytelling . . . 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)
The Little Stranger is a proper muscle-flexing story - I was in awe and just did not want it to end (Julie Myerson)
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)
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 novel's unsettling power (Claudia Fitzherbert)
A creepy, sensual 1940s noir with all of Waters' trademark depth and intelligence. And the best, most ambivalent male narrator (written by a woman) since The Secret History (Liz Hoggard)
The horrors are brilliantly orchestrated, and rise effortlessly in scale and explicitness... Waters knows what she is about, and the novel's interests are only partly in the supernatural... The fascination of The Little Stranger lies in its unnerving evocation of place and time. It is a beautiful and expert divertissement (Philip Hensher)
Truly frightening . . . As I lay in bed after finishing reading it, running the various elements through my mind, a fox screamed outside my window and I nearly had a heart attack (Suzi Feay)
A spine-tingler . . . Waters skilfully ratchets up the suspense as events at Hundreds grow ever more highly charged - even downright chilling (Amber Pearson)
All stars
Most relevant
A subtle ghost story, and all the more believable as the story is told through a character on the periphery of what was happening. Beautifully done, and the complex intertwining of the characters and the house itself builds up a rich atmosphere, which Sarah Waters does so well. Personally I enjoyed the fact that the ending was not cut-and-dried and left you wondering.......

I must admit when I first read the blurb I was a little disappointed that the author had stayed away from the Victorian era, but with her usual skill she has ended up interesting me just as much in the post-war period and the social adjustments that went on at that time instead!

Very well narrated - with the Warwickshire accent not sounding like a parody - quite a feat!

A subtle ghost story

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This was one of the most compelling audiobooks I've listened to for ages. The story is told with a very light touch, and perfectly narrated by Simon Vance. I listen to books while I walk my little dog in the woods, and for the last few days I've been even more eager than here to get out there so that I could get to the end of this entrancing book. Highly recommended :)

Excellent!

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This is the first Sarah Walters I have downloaded and from the reading the reviews I was really looking forward to it but it just didn't reach expectations. It was slow and dull, even the allegedly "spooky" moments could not hold my attention. At no point did I feel any belief in any of the characters, who came across as very one dimensional. The ending gave the impression the author just decided she had written enough but was not quite sure where she was going. I only stuck with it to see how it ended, only to find that I knew no more at the end than I did at the beginning - sometimes in that situation the journey from beginning to end justifies this, but not so in this case. The social elements of the story were inadequately covered too, meaning that was neither a complete ghost story nor a complete social statement. The author would have been better sticking to one or the other. Very disappointing.

Disappointing

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Sarah Waters is an excellent writer so even if the story is not that exciting you find yourself reading on anyway. The story is told in the first person by a middle aged narrator who from his earliest years has been fascinated by the local noble home of the Ayres. Mrs Ayres lives with her two adult children - the heir and her somewhat unattractive daughter. The narrator who is a man of science becomes invoved with the family by trying to treat Roddy who was injured during the War and he later falls in love with Mrs Ayre's daughter. Quite frankly this love story is one of the most improbable I have ever read and although the narrator is quite an intelligent man it seems amazing to me that he does not quite understand that his dulcinée does not love him. Meanwhile there is an evil presence in the house and it ends up by destroying the harmony of the household. It takes about half of this very long book to actually reach the point of the apparition as such and the account of these happenings are always recounted by the disbelieving sceptic so there is no build up of fear and suspense or any kind of atmosphere which might allow the reader to feel fear or believe the tale. the narrator was so good that in spite of the over lengthy and drawn out descriptions you will find yourself engrossed. If you like a frightening ghost story then this might not be the book to read.

A ghost tale but hardly spine-chilling.

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I would have preferred 100 pages less.

I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book but although the story was interesting, I have marked it down because it was just too drawn out and I lost interest well before the end. This was another book that I finished just because it was on audio.

The main character, for me, was actually the house; creaky, disintegrating, spooky, it was a sinister presence throughout, but especially towards the end. The novel is set just after WWII and the after-effects are felt in the injuries, both physical and mental, exhibited by Rod, in the once grand, Hundreds Hall. Dr Faraday is called out to see him when his regular doctor is busy, and soon finds himself drawn to the family. Mrs Ayres is a lovely ageing woman, with old fashioned ways, and her daughter, Caroline, is a somewhat frumpy spinster.

Gradually, one thing after another seems to happen to the family; is the house really taking on a will of its own? Faraday, who narrates the novel, wants everything to have a scientific explanation, but the reader is left wondering.
This could have been really good with 100 pages removed, leaving the spookiest bits but removing the ramblings of Dr Faraday.

One thing this book does do well, is describe the changes that were taking place in many large houses after the war. The once wealthy landowners are short of staff and funds and both houses and families are struggling to hold everything together.

So, some good points, some less so, but overall a reasonable read.

Also read, by Sarah Waters:
Tipping the Velvet (3.5 stars)

Rather too long and drawn out.

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