The little stranger by sarah waters

I picked up this book in Fopp at the weekend for £2. I didn't know much about the book although several things about it appealed to me. The story is about a doctor in the Leamington Spa area after world war 2. I actually spent 5 years at medical school/working as a first year doctor in Warwickshire so the setting was familiar to me.

The book is also a bit of a gothic/psychological horror story. The protagonist is Dr Faraday, a man from a poor family who has done well in life. Faraday narrates the book, describing the misfortunes of the Ayres family in their decaying family seat, Hundreds Hall. Strange things happen in the house suggesting that it is haunted.

I really enjoyed the story and there are a few interesting things that happen. I have talked about some of these things below. To avoid SPOILERS I have used a different coloured text.

To READ SPOILERS select the area below.

Faraday appears to be an unreliable narrator in the style of James Hogg's 'The private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner'. Faraday appears to be a catalyst for the decline of the house, initially damaging it as a 10 year old child.

Initially Faraday appears to be trying to help the family although with time many of his actions appear to be more selfishly motivated. While the narative supplied by Faraday appears to be neutral he may well be denying many of the unpleasant things that he does to the Ayres family. Towards the end of the book his selfish actions appear more obvious (for example he himself carries out the post-mortem on his prospective mother-in-law, an activity which is surely against medical athics. He also seems to emotionally manipulate Caroline Ayres into becoming engaged to him and at one point he may even attempt to rape har).

In the latrer segments of the book Faraday is more visibly unhinged, even in his own narrative. It is certainly possible to interpret the death of Caroline Ayres as murder. There is also a telling section in the epilogue where he returns to the house, thinking he may be able to see the ghost before realising that all he can see is his own reflection.

A good book. Worth a read. Please leave a comment if you have any other thoughts on events in the book.