The Little Stranger

In postwar rural England, country doctor Faraday answers a call at Hundreds Hall, a once-grand Georgian house now crumbling under the weight of poverty and social change. The Ayres family, the last occupants of a fading estate, begin to experience disturbances that may be haunting, may be madness, and may be something even harder to name. Sarah Waters's gothic novel is deliberately ambiguous about its supernatural content, keeping the horror grounded in psychological and social unease.

Simon Vance narrates with the measured restraint that this kind of literary ghost story demands, never rushing toward sensation when the slow accumulation of wrongness is more effective. His voice suits Faraday's unreliable narration, conveying both the doctor's rationalism and the cracks appearing in it as the story progresses. The multiple award nominations, including the Booker Prize longlist, reflect a novel that uses the genre's conventions to serious literary ends.