Book Report: The Little Stranger by Sara Waters

So, I actually read The Little Stranger in June, and I became pretty obsessed with it.  Sara Waters is actually a prominent lesbian writer in England and apparently wrote her masters' thesis on lesbian terminology in Victorian literature.  So interesting, right?  It is amazing the things that it never occurs to you could become a master's thesis, but it could clearly be anything. The Little Stranger has no lesbian overtones, but apparently the other novels of Sara Waters do have the element.

Anyway, from the beginning, I was enthralled with this gothic story.  It was actually reminiscent of me of Daphne DeMaurier's Rebecca on many levels.  The layers of mystery and sadness and intrigue smacked of Rebecca to me.  The story revolves around a dilapidated manor house called "Hundreds Hall".  Hundreds hall has been the victim of new tax laws following the war, there is no new money coming in and the Ayers family seem determined to keep their house though they live in abject poverty with tattered clothes whilst the house falls down around their ears.

The country doctor, Farraday, who used to come to Hundreds Hall as a child during better times when his mother was employed by the Ayers family in the nursery, is in awe of the home and family as well as pitying the state of their decline.  He begins to become more and more involved in issues within Hundreds Hall, as he is called to the house for various medical issues that begin to become curiouser and curiouser.  As Farraday, the narrator, becomes more involved with the remaining family (an aging mother and her two adult children, a son and a daughter), he finds that there are unexplainable goings on within the household.  The stranger the book becomes, the further Farraday becomes entangled with the Ayers family.

Farrday seems to fall in love with Hundreds or maybe the daughter of the house or maybe he is only concerned and kind, or could he be diabolical.  Sara Waters begins to encourage your suspicions, and you puzzle through various whodunit scenarios as you read further and further into the plot of the book.  I cannot tell you very much about this book, lest I ruin the brilliant story.  It is a quick read and such a great story.  The language is beautiful, and the tale is completely unique.

Please Read!!