The Little Stranger

For a big, juicy read, try The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters (Riverhead, 2009).  Waters is the author of another of my all time favs, Fingersmith.  Little Stranger has been shorlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and is a darkly atmospheric novel set in a decaying mansion in postwar England.  The narrator (and an unreliable one at that!) Dr Faraday, first visited Hundreds Hall as a child when his mother was a servant there.  Nearly 30 years later he is called in to care for a servant and soon finds himself embroiled in the family’s “troubles”, including son Roderick’s belief that there is an evil presence in the house.  Library Journal accurately pointed out the the book has elements of both The Fall of the House of Usher and Brideshead Revisited.  A spooky, satisfying read with insightful class commentary.