Novelist Alma Katsu is known for injecting horror and the supernatural into historical fiction (“makes the supernatural seem possible,” says Publishers Weekly). Her new book, The Hunger, a reimagining of the story of the Donner Party, has just been published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
I’ve always loved ghost stories, probably because I grew up in a run-down old Victorian that we were sure was haunted. Writing a ghost story, however, is another matter. I think they’re hard to pull off successfully. Even if they manage to produce a ghost, it’s often done so unimaginatively that you wish the author hadn’t bothered.
You certainly can’t say this about The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Although shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009, it has not been universally loved, particularly by the fans of Waters’ earlier work. However, I’m in the camp that believes when it comes to art, a little controversy is a good thing. It’s a sign of Waters’ genius that she was able to build ambiguity in her novel without the whole thing falling apart. And in the end, she created a very different kind of ghost story. I wouldn’t say the book is terrifying, but it is terrifyingly well done, and I’ve come back to reread and study her artistry time and time again.
Sarah Waters is known for examining social issues in Britain, and The Little Stranger follows in this tradition. Its key themes of social upheaval in the UK after the Second World War, the decline of the landed class and rise of the working class give the novel richness and depth. The horror element ends up being one piece among many, and I’d read that Waters actually added it on later when she felt she’d become stuck. It ends up sitting lightly in the book while at the same time is woven into nearly every scene.
The story centers around a crumbling mansion, Hundreds Hall, and the family that owns it, the Ayres, an upper-class clan that, like many aristocratic families of the time, is going down in the world. The narrator, Dr. Faraday, knew the property as a child, his mother having been a servant there. His fascination with the house—and now the family—carries into adulthood. He grows closer to the family, even though he is keenly aware of the differences in their social class. And it is Faraday who tries to help the family as things get stranger and spookier, even if his help feels, at times, a bit questionable.
From a writer’s point of view, the choices Waters made to construct the story are fascinating. Faraday, tepid and cautious, is a problematic narrator, even if his character rings perfectly true. He’s also saddled with being the voice of reason: in any ghost story, you need characters who don’t believe in that nonsense, to push back against the one who believes she’s being haunted and is losing her mind. Having the main character be the chief naysayer could’ve been a drag on the story that was difficult to overcome—for a less talented author.
I recently read an analysis that compared The Little Stranger to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a similarity that I hadn’t seen earlier. First, there’s the shared emphasis on class differences: the narrators in both books are on the outside looking in, wishing to be part of the elite and yet uncomfortable with that longing. Second, both narrators are passive. I remember being put off by the unnamed narrator of Rebecca the first time I read it, which was in high school. Readers instinctively want more dynamic main characters, a strong voice that you want to follow, but by the time I read The Little Stranger, I’d learned to appreciate the frisson Waters had deliberately created with Faraday.
What ultimately makes The Little Stranger so groundbreaking is the ending, which I would love to get into but would entail giving away that great surprising twist. Let’s just say Sarah Waters manages to pull off something daring, the equivalent of walking a tightrope, testing herself in full view of the public. She takes the ghost story to a new place, no easy feat. As a writer, I have to admire her courage and her artistry.
I’ll admit I’m only a casual student of the ghost story and that there are other opinions of The Little Stranger. If you have thoughts on the novel, I hope you share them in the comment section below.
