THE LITTLE STRANGER

TITLE: THE LITTLE STRANGER

AUTHOR: SARAH WATERS

Pages: 499

Date: 14/12/2009

Grade: 5-

Library

It doesn't happen often that a book with a main character I dislike as much as I did Dr. Faraday in this one, ends up with a mark this high. But Faraday being the way he is, is essential to the story. Had he been a different character, this would have been a different book.
The time is just after WW II when Dr. Faraday is called out to Hundreds Hall, and old Georgian house in decline where the last members of the Ayres family are trying to keep things going in some form.
But as much as the Ayres are struggling with the changing times, their past and tensions in the family, something else seems determined to destroy them.
As disaster after disaster befalls the family they become convinced that house is possessed and determined to harm them. Faraday, being the cool headed scientist that he is, is convinced the family is suffering from stress and imagining things.
But with the family and the house falling apart, even Faraday has to question if it's possible that the house or something in it is out to cause harm.
This was a good ghost story, especially because there are no clear answers, leaving it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions as to what exactly has happened.