Fiction Pick of the Week: The Little Stranger

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

This novel, part gothic tale and part historical suspense, kept me up til all hours. The Little Stranger is an old-fashioned ghost story, complete with spooky house, eccentric inhabitants and a narrator who may not be as mild-mannered as he seems. Doctor Faraday, a lonely bachelor, first visited Hundred’s Hall in 1919 as a child when his mother worked for the aristocratic Ayres family. Now, 30 years later he is called back to treat a servant. His once solitary life becomes entangled with the family: Mrs. Ayres the elegant owner; her 24-year-old son Roderick, an RAF airman wounded during the war; and daughter Caroline, considered a plain spinster by locals, but for whom Dr. Faraday develops a special attachment. And the mansion, Hundred’s Hall, is to my mind the most important character in the story. Author Sarah Waters ever so slowly builds the suspense as she skillfully weaves tension and dread into each and every paragraph. A book not to be missed.

Fiction Pick of the Week: Her Fearful Symmetry

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger 2009

Written by the author of the very successful Time Traveler’s Wife, Her Fearful Symmetry is a modern day gothic romantic ghost story. Twenty-year-old “mirror” twins, Valentina and Julia have to spend a year in their deceased Aunt Elspeth’s London flat next to the Highgate Cemetery in order to inherit their aunt’s fortune. Quirky characters, such as an inventor of crossword puzzles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder living above them, a former young lover on the floor below plus the ghost of Elspeth in their flat create a recipe for a fabulous ghost story. Niffeneger has a deft way of invoking a ghostly atmosphere with her prose. It will make a great movie!

Watch the trailer here:

My Pick of the Week!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is a modern gothic tale reminiscent of Bronte and DuMaurier. Vida Winter, a famous author, is never able to tell the truth about herself much to the dismay of her adoring fans. Her health is failing and she calls upon Margaret Lea to write her biography. Margaret, a bibliophile, is very unsure about this request but eventually agrees. Vida slowly tells her shocking life story brimming with secrets such as “ghosts”, an abandoned baby, a tragic fire, the bond of twins and skeletons. Could Vida’s life story be true? This captivating novel will hook you from the beginning.

Let me know if you've read this title and what you thought about the book. Have you read any other good books lately, drop me a line!