THE LITTLE STRANGER (Sarah Waters)

Dr. Faraday is called one day to Hundreds Hall to tend to the Ayres family maid, Betty, who has been complaining of stomach pains. Despite the fact that his colleague, Dr. David Graham, is the family's physician of record, this is NOT Faraday's first visit to the Hall. Nearly 30 years before, at age 10, Dr. Faraday had attended an Empire Day festival at the beautiful mansion, where his mother had previously served as a nursery maid. It is during this current emergency visit, however, that he becomes acquainted with the eccentric Ayres family: Mrs. Ayres, now widowed and still grieving for her first-born, Susan, who died of diptheria at the age of six; Caroline, the plain, practical, daughter who will become almost an obsession in Dr. Faraday's life; and son Roderick, maimed in WWII and struggling unsuccessfully to keep the estate running and solvent.

Faraday is both appalled and fascinated by changes at the Hall and soon becomes a close friend and confidante of the Ayreses. During a dinner party at Hundreds Hall to welcome new neighbors to the area, the amiable and loving family dog, Gyp, suddenly turns on the young daughter of the guests, disfiguring her face. This is the first in a series of many disturbing occurances that eventually drive the family and the estate to near destruction, and the first hint of the "little stranger" that will alter the lives of everyone closely connected with Hundreds Hall.

Waters is a gifted historical novelist. In "The Little Stranger' she creates a rich atmosphere of decaying opulance as the Ayres family tries unsuccessfully to maintain their traditional position in the community as their home literally falls down around them. The reader can almost feel the dampness and cold and smell the mildew and soot as Waters' story unfolds and her characters' lives and sanity seem to disintegrate bit by bit. The supernatural element is introduced seamlessly into the storyline and developed so subtley that the reader continually wonders whether the events of the story are real (in the fictional sense), manufactured by someone with malevolent intent towards one or more of the family, or product of an unstable mind. I do feel that this novel would have been much better if it had been about 300 pages instead of 463. I almost stopped reading about 200 pages into the book because the story began to drag unbearably, leaving me plodding through the pages. Once the story picked up later on and it was difficult to put the book down as the ending approached.

Speaking of the ending, nothing here is cut and dried.  Those of you who enjoy a neat, well tied up finale will be disappointed by the uncertainties that remain as this novel ends.  If you enjoy a novel that keeps you wondering, even long after you close the book, this may be a good choice for you.