Review - The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

This is going to be a mini review as the book has been out for sometime though I got my hands on it just this week only.

The book is what I would call a Gothic novel - the characters of Caroline, Rod and Mrs. Ayres are the mainstay of this book but I would also say that the house Hundreds is its chief actor. The story starts simply with a gentrified family falling on really, really bad times and finding it rather difficult to cope with no money, no servants and a totally different lifestyle to which they were born to. Difficult enough to cope with normally. Add to the mix a ghost, a rather venomous one in the form of a sister who had died who is not happy, very restless and seeks revenge from those who are living in the house at present.

The story emphasises right along almost to the end the class differences that exist between the story teller (Dr Farraday) whose mother was a maid at the house, and the family who was always considered gentry right upto their sorry end. The story is slow but vibrant and you always feel that the pace will pick up on the next page - you wish and hope that it would end happily for Caroline but you are thwarted always.

The book was a very enjoyable read and my first of Sarah Waters books. I will definitely be reading the rest.