FANDOM NAME: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (yes, that Sarah Waters)
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT:
Wiser people than me have described the gothic novel (at least in its 20th century form) as the romance between a woman and a house -- if that's the case, The Little Stranger is a sort of fucked up love triangle that turns that model and its gendered assumptions inside out. Off the top of my head, I'd say Waters does a killer job echoing gothic literary precedents (Daphne du Maurier, Henry James, among others) without slipping into a pastiche -- the novel is a fairly serious treatment of postwar societal change and the British class system in the first half of the 20th century at the same time as it's a subtle and psychological ghost story pulling double-duty as a horror story about very human motives and resentments.
Faraday is a sensible country doctor returning to Hundreds Hall after a single boyhood visit decades ago only to find his fascination with the house reignited. The house's sole residents are the Ayres family, along with their perceptive teenage maid Betty whose uneasy complaints are the initial cause of Faraday's presence at Hundreds. Caroline and Roderick Ayres are the last two surviving children, both unmarried; Caroline's a sturdy ex-Wren left a little at sea in civilian life and Roderick's a once-boyish RAF pilot who's struggling to manage the family estate while still physically and psychologically recovering from serious injuries. The hot and haunted matriarch is struggling to maintain the family residence, but she has plenty of private grief on her plate due to previous losses, and there are considerations to the family's survival at Hundreds that extend beyond the financial into the house's dark past and uncertain future. Faraday generously/""""generously"""" agrees to assist the family with their medical and practical concerns, and somehow things just seem to get worse from there as he grows increasingly entangled. Queasy envy! Creeping horror! Wack sexual tension! Viable queer readings! Lots and lots of careful and atmospheric descriptions of crumbling creepy old houses!
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: The novel should be widely available in various formats (including audiobook) and is still in print, published in 2009; in paperback it's around 500 pages. There was a recent (and good, imo) film adaptation released in 2018 starring Ruth Wilson and Domhnall Gleeson.
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WHAT MAKES IT GREAT:
Wiser people than me have described the gothic novel (at least in its 20th century form) as the romance between a woman and a house -- if that's the case, The Little Stranger is a sort of fucked up love triangle that turns that model and its gendered assumptions inside out. Off the top of my head, I'd say Waters does a killer job echoing gothic literary precedents (Daphne du Maurier, Henry James, among others) without slipping into a pastiche -- the novel is a fairly serious treatment of postwar societal change and the British class system in the first half of the 20th century at the same time as it's a subtle and psychological ghost story pulling double-duty as a horror story about very human motives and resentments.
Faraday is a sensible country doctor returning to Hundreds Hall after a single boyhood visit decades ago only to find his fascination with the house reignited. The house's sole residents are the Ayres family, along with their perceptive teenage maid Betty whose uneasy complaints are the initial cause of Faraday's presence at Hundreds. Caroline and Roderick Ayres are the last two surviving children, both unmarried; Caroline's a sturdy ex-Wren left a little at sea in civilian life and Roderick's a once-boyish RAF pilot who's struggling to manage the family estate while still physically and psychologically recovering from serious injuries. The hot and haunted matriarch is struggling to maintain the family residence, but she has plenty of private grief on her plate due to previous losses, and there are considerations to the family's survival at Hundreds that extend beyond the financial into the house's dark past and uncertain future. Faraday generously/""""generously"""" agrees to assist the family with their medical and practical concerns, and somehow things just seem to get worse from there as he grows increasingly entangled. Queasy envy! Creeping horror! Wack sexual tension! Viable queer readings! Lots and lots of careful and atmospheric descriptions of crumbling creepy old houses!
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: The novel should be widely available in various formats (including audiobook) and is still in print, published in 2009; in paperback it's around 500 pages. There was a recent (and good, imo) film adaptation released in 2018 starring Ruth Wilson and Domhnall Gleeson.