My Goodreads review: The Little Stranger

[ankh_hpl]

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a slow-burn Gothic experience for readers who appreciate a Turn of the Screw approach. Set in postwar (WW II) rural England, The Little Stranger focuses as much on character and class as it does on telling a very unusual haunted-house story . . . if, indeed, that’s what’s going on at Hundreds Hall, the declining great house in question.

When Dr. Faraday, an upwardly-aspiring country physician, is called to treat a servant of the resident Ayres family, his life and theirs quickly become entangled – and a creeping, possibly otherworldly malaise sets in. It’s nearly impossible to summarize this one further without spoilers. The pace is less deliberate than inevitable, the atmosphere effectively grim, & the conclusion far more complex than most horror novels provide.

One caution: if violence to either children or dogs is a deal-breaker for you as a reader, you might want to pass. The violence is integral to the plot, but disturbing.




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