The Little Stranger

The Little Stranger (2009), a gothic ghost story by novelist Jessica Waters, tells a tale of family, loss, legacy, and love with elements of the supernatural. While Waters is typically known for her plot-twisting works with lesbian narrators, this work is a decided departure from her signature style and plot. Critics’ consensus regards this work as one in which a sense of terror and suspense steadily builds in a straightforward way that some say results in an anti-climactic finish. Waters said, "I tried to keep it strange, keep what was happening genuinely odd, without closing it down with a neat explanation at the end." The ambiguity of the work is integral in its thematic development, driving the work’s central tone. The work is set in post-World War II London. Receiving a warm reception and high critical praise, the book was adapted into a cinematic production in late 2018.

The narrator, Doctor Faraday, is called to Hundred Halls, the Ayres’ family estate, to treat the oldest son, Roderick, for badly-healed injuries he sustained as a pilot during the war. Faraday is bewildered by the sense of history, decay, and an air of strangeness he feels as he tours the sizeable property past its prime due to economic decline, high taxes, and the expensive upkeep costs driving the Ayres family further into poverty as he interacts with the people who live and work there.

Roderick’s mother, the lady of the estate, decides to throw a large party to encourage her only unmarried daughter, Caroline, to meet some eligible men. Tragedy strikes when the family’s older and friendly Labrador attacks a young child.



After the attack, Roderick’s behavior noticeably alters; at first, his mood and sudden drinking problem seem a consequence of stress from managing the family’s dismal finances. When confronted, Roderick divulges that on the night of the dog’s attack, a dark invisible energy targeted him. He confesses that he let the force fixate on him to divert its attention from his mother and sister. Burn marks appear on Roderick’s wall, and Caroline wakes to find Roderick’s room on fire; Roderick is committed to a mental ward.

Faraday develops a close connection with Caroline, teetering between casual friendship and romantic interest. His conversations with each member of the Ayres family and their two maids confirm that something odd is happening at Hundred Halls. He soon begins to believe the house could be "consumed by some dark germ, some ravenous shadow-creature, some 'little stranger' spawned from the troubled unconscious of someone connected with the house itself." When Dr. Faraday consults his peer physicians, the odd occurrences are rationalized using scientific theories of the body and mind; however, he remains skeptical that such easy explanations account for the apparent supernatural activities.

The activity seems to escalate, becoming more frequent and aggressive, as if actively seeking acknowledgement. The maids are particularly spooked, hearing their call bells, the phone ringing, and other sounds in the middle of the night. Curious childish writing appears on the walls soon after in these same spots. Looking for the source of one of these strange sounds one night, Mrs. Ayres is locked in the nursery of her deceased daughter who died of diphtheria when she was merely eight. Caroline and the maids free Mrs. Ayres; after the incident, she takes comfort in what she believes are her daughter Susan’s interactions, reading the more violent events as mere anger for her death and eagerness for their reuniting. The maids soon discover the corpse of Mrs. Ayres, who has hanged herself to join her daughter on the other side.



Caroline and Faraday decide to marry on the same day as Mrs. Ayres’s funeral. The date of the wedding ceremony is set a short six weeks in the future. As the date approaches Caroline loses interest in the event’s arrangements and the union altogether. Eventually, she calls off the affair, declaring her intent to sell the Ayres estate. Faraday attempts to talk Caroline out of her self-destructive impulses without success. While he is detained at work on the evening they were supposed to marry, Caroline meets a mysterious end. According to the maid, Caroline went upstairs, and with a startled, “You!”, fell to her death below. In the years following, Faraday visits the vacant property with the hope of glimpsing what Caroline saw just before her death. Ultimately, he is unable to find the answers for which he is looking.