The Little Stranger

herself down in front of a roaring fire and determined to scare the pants off her rightly devoted audience. In that she succeeds unequivocally. You'll want to sleep with the light on' Erica Wagner, The Times 'Alongside episodes of memorable horror, class is the most interesting element of The Little Stranger ... Waters stages a superb depiction of the menace of inanimate objects ... Ambitious and original' Sean O'Brien, TLS 'The horrors are brilliantly orchestrated, and rise effortlessly in scale and explicitness ... Waters knows what she is about, and the novels interests are only partly in the supernatural and the ghost story ... Waters has used the formal and conventional tactics of fiction ? the stiffer, the better ? to examine a read human situation ...The fascination of The Little Stranger lies in its unnerving evocation of place and time. It is a beautiful and expert divertissement' Philip Hensher, Spectator 'Water serves up a truly frightening scene in the deserted nursery ... As I lay in bed after finishing reading it, running the various elements through my mind, a fox screamed outside my window and I nearly had a heart attack' Suzi Feay, Literary Review 'Sarah Waters has, quite singlehandedly, at this late date, renewed the whole genre of the spooky gothic novel. Quite a feat' David Sexton, Evening Standard 'The knowledge that something nasty is around the corner lends the narrative a compelling sense of unease. At the same time, the richness of Waters' writing ensures that the air of thickening dread is very thick indeed ... Waters is a brave writer. The Little Stranger is an engrossing, hugely enjoyable read with set pieces guaranteed to make anyone with a pulse gibber in fright' John Preston, Sunday Telegraph 'Sarah Waters' masterly novel is a perverse hymn to decay, to the corrosive power of class resentment as well as the damage wrought by war ... (Waters has) a perfect understanding of her period ... She deploys the vigour and cunning one finds in Margaret Atwood's fiction, the same narrative ease and expansiveness, and the same knack of twisting the tension tighter and tighter within an individual scene ... The Little Stranger operates in the queasy borderlands between the supernatural and the psychopathological, and it is territory in which Waters moves with an air of supreme ease ... It is gripping, confident, unnerving and supremely entertaining ... Its allusions, its implications softly gather and fold themselves into the space in the mind that the book has made for itself, falling into place with a soft hiss, a rustle like phantom silks' Hilary Mantel, Guardian 'A spine-tingler ... Waters skilfully ratchets up the suspense as events at Hundreds grow ever more highly charged ? even downright chilling' Amber Pearson, Daily Mail 'This is more than a detective and/or ghost story. It is also a study of post-war Britain ... Social document; intriguing detective yarn; chilling ghost story, romance or thriller, The Little Stranger is a marvellous read on so very many levels' Christine Dwyer Hickey, Irish Times