Who are Dr. Faraday and Caroline and her brother Roderick? They are the amazing and improbable characters of The Little Stranger
The book has been defined as a gothic novel, because it is intertwined along with a murky background made of a desolate manor which is probably haunted by a ghost. Could this ghost be the true protagonist of The Little Stranger? We can’t be sure about that. The Title of the book leads us to think just like this, but the whole story makes we think the little stranger could just be Dr. Faraday, a solitary man who during his childhood frequented a big house where aristocratic families have lived since 1700.
This big house is now inhabited by Mrs Angela Ayres and her daughter Caroline and her son Roderick. The latter has fought during the war and shows signs of post traumatic stress and even madness. Both of two brothers, now adult and still unmarried, are trying to raise back the sad destiny of the manor where they live: Hundreds Hall, in Warwickshire, England. It is in the cold and big rooms of Hundreds Hall that Faraday meets Caroline, Mrs Ayres and Roderick. Faraday, who is a country doctor with humble beginnings and the son of a waitress who just worked at Hundreds Hall, is called to care the young waitress of family Ayres, Betty.
This way Faraday makes friends with Mrs Ayres, Caroline and Roderick. The friendship gets closer with Caroline, so that Faraday gets used to visit Hundreds Hall frequently. During his visits, Faraday is the witness of upsetting episodes, such as a serious accident happened to a little girl during a party at Hundreds Hall. In that case, everybody believes the girl was bitten by Gyp, the loved dog of Caroline. Because of this accident, Gyp is killed. Another episode is due to the strange visions of Roderick, he sees some spots on the floor, the ceiling and the walls and hears horrific presences in his room. Faraday doesn’t believe to these visions and diagnoses that Roderick suffers from a madness caused by the war.
After Roderick has been brought into a clinic for mental illnesses, the strange phenomena continue obsessing Mrs Ayres and Caroline. To stop the paranormal activities in the house, Mrs Ayres commits even suicide. The woman, in fact, believed the supernatural activities was caused by her little daughter dead before the war. Faraday, then, decides to protect and marry Caroline and to live along with her inside Hundreds Hall.
But in the final stage of the novel, readers takes part to compelling surprises such as Caroline, who decides to abandon Faraday and to go away from Hundreds Hall. The Little Stranger is a novel that captured our attention because managed to melt a ghost story with the tragedy of a post war family trapped in a falling and desolate house.
This family is also unable to keep his own house comfortable and in good conditions. The war, in fact, led Mrs Ayres, Caroline and Roderick to get poor and to survive by selling the lands that surround Hundreds Hall. The book ends with a big doubt: Who is The Little Stranger? Poverty, mental illness, desperation, solitude or some other things? Perhaps, the stranger is just the spirit of a dead little girl. To find out that, it is better to read the book
Rosalba Mancuso is the journalist, born in Sicily, who founded three online magazines in English. On Advicebooks Book Reviews, Rosalba shows her great passion for books, helping readers and book lovers choose and buy the best books she read and reviewed. She also worked as a contributor to print and online magazines and as a bilingual Italian-English writer. Here, Rosalba also offers room to authors and publishers who want to get their books reviewed through the voice of an avid reader like her. You must also know that this book review magazine lives thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you buy books through the affiliate links you find in her book reviews. This book review magazine is also funded by services of editorial reviews and book press releases.
