The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters

READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Jo

The Little Stranger is a mixed genre story set in a dilapidated mansion in Warwickshire, England in the 1940s. It features a country doctor who calls on an old family of declining fortunes who own the old estate that is crumbling around them.Though attending in a professional manner at first, the doctor becomes entwined in the family’s plight and the ghoulish goings on. The historical/gothic novel also delves into many societal interactions of the time: class systems, repression, gender roles and the British way of life.

It was simply that, in admiring the house, I wanted to possess a piece of it — or rather, as if the admiration itself, which I suspected a more ordinary child would not have felt, entitled me to it.

❖ “A very cleverly written ghost story … but is it a ghost story? Nothing is as it seems and with the tension gradually building between the two main characters and the strange happenings at the mansion, you are in for a stimulating read. One of my favourites, and I loved the re-read.” – Jo

❖ “The re-read is even more riveting than the first and I thought I might pick up a little more about the goings-on, but alas. In saying that, I love how everything is not completely spelled out. The story is engrossing, melding historical fiction and supernatural genres. The characters are troubled but charismatic and offer both sides of the argument, with the mysterious goings on first considered by the insular family and then the doctor’s scientific mind. It really is a wonderful read.” – Rachel

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Published 2009
Virago
510 pages