The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

I was pleased to learn earlier this year that Sarah Waters had a new novel out and even more pleased to hear that it was a ghost story as I felt sure she would do it well. I think it's really difficult to pull off a satisfying ghost story and although I love the idea of them, those I have read I have often found let downs, especially the endings. Waters' first three novels which have all been televised, were set in the Victorian era and she was credited with having invented a new genre of 'Victorian lesbian romp', but her fourth novel 'The Nightwatch', (which I have reviewed previously), was set during the second world war and this, her eagerly awaited fifth, also takes ...  Read the complete review

I find that I tend to read things by the same authors, so when I saw this book advertised as being 'a chilling ghost story' I thought I would give it a try. The story is told from the point of view of Dr Faraday and begins when he is about ten years old, visiting a large old house where his mother is a maid. There is lots of description about the house and what it was like and even a passage about sneaking down to the servants quarters to have some food. The story then jumps forward several years to just after the war, to show Dr Faraday when he is almost forty and as one of the local doctors in Lidcote, Warwickshire. One night he is called out to ...  Read the complete review

As a fan of Sarah Waters, and as i had already read her other four books, i was really quite excited about recieving the fifth. However, i found The Little Stranger rather different from the other books. Anyone who has read any of Sarah Waters other books, or anyone who has heard of her will know her for her period lesbien themed literature, such as 'Tipping the Velvet' or 'Affinity'. With The Little Stranger i had expected more of the same, which was deffinatly not what i got. The Little Stranger is set in a post war English countryside, and focuses on Dr. Faraday as he aquants himself with the residents of the local country house, the Ayres familly, who ...  Read the complete review