I’ll be honest. The first time I finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, I felt like I’d been tricked. I was looking for a classic ghost story—you know, the kind with rattling chains or a lady in white—but what I got was something way more invasive. It’s been years since it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and readers are still arguing over whether there’s actually a ghost in Hundreds Hall or if the narrator is just a massive creep.
Basically, if you’re expecting a jump-scare fest, you’re looking at the wrong book. This is a slow burn. It's a heavy, damp, post-war British slog that somehow manages to be one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever read.
What’s Actually Happening in Hundreds Hall?
The story kicks off in 1947. Britain is a mess. The war is over, but the old "gentry" families—the ones with the big estates and the fancy names—are literally rotting away. Enter Dr. Faraday. He’s our narrator, a local GP who grew up as the son of a servant. He’s obsessed with Hundreds Hall, the local manor owned by the Ayres family.
The Ayreses are struggling. Mrs. Ayres is clinging to the past, Roderick is a traumatized war vet, and Caroline is the "plain" daughter trying to hold the roof up. Literally. The house is falling apart.
Then the weird stuff starts.
A dog attacks a child for no reason. Strange "S" marks appear on the walls. Bells ring in empty rooms. People die.
But here’s the kicker: Faraday, being a man of "science," refuses to believe in ghosts. He blames everything on "nervous exhaustion" or bad plumbing. You've probably met people like this—the type who have an answer for everything even when the walls are bleeding.
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The Theory That Changes Everything
Most people read The Little Stranger and assume it's a poltergeist. But if you look closer, Waters drops these breadcrumbs that suggest something much darker.
There is a theory—one that Waters herself has hinted at in interviews—that the "Little Stranger" isn't a dead person at all. It’s a "bundle of projected repressions."
Think about it. Faraday is a man who hates his own working-class roots but desperately wants to belong to the upper class. He loves the house more than the people in it. He’s basically a parasite.
"It was as if the house were developing scars of its own, in response to his unhappiness and frustration."
There's a specific moment in the book where a fellow doctor, Seeley, talks about how a "subliminal self" can break away from a person and act out their darkest desires. If you re-read the ending with the idea that Faraday’s own subconscious is the ghost, the whole thing becomes a thousand times scarier. He isn't the hero trying to save the family. He’s the monster destroying them so he can finally have the house to himself.
Why the Movie and Book Feel So Different
In 2018, Lenny Abrahamson directed a film version starring Domhnall Gleeson. It’s good! It's moody. But honestly? It misses that internal rot that makes the book so sticky.
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In the novel, we are trapped inside Faraday’s head. We see what he wants us to see. Because he’s an unreliable narrator, we don't realize how much he’s manipulating the situation until it’s too late. The movie tries to show this through "Gothic" visuals, but it’s hard to film the specific kind of class-based resentment that Waters writes so well.
The film makes the "ghost" feel a bit more external. The book makes you feel like the ghost is sitting right next to you, reading over your shoulder.
Key Differences to Watch For:
- The Ending: The book ends on a chillingly ambiguous note where Faraday sees his own reflection in the glass. The movie is a bit more "on the nose" about his culpability.
- Roderick’s Fate: In the book, Rod’s descent into madness is long and agonizing. The movie speeds this up, which loses some of the "shell shock" context of 1940s Britain.
- Caroline: Ruth Wilson plays her perfectly, but the book gives her more agency before her tragic end. You really feel her trying to escape the "rip in the night" that is her home.
The "S" on the Wall: What Did Caroline See?
The most debated part of The Little Stranger Sarah Waters wrote is the very end. Caroline Ayres is at the top of the stairs. She sees something. She screams "You!" and falls to her death.
Who was "You"?
Some fans think she saw the ghost of Susan, her mother's dead first child. Others think she saw a literal poltergeist. But the most popular theory—and the one that honestly makes the most sense—is that she saw Faraday.
Not necessarily the physical Faraday, who was supposedly asleep in his car, but the "Little Stranger" version of him. The part of him that was so hungry for the house that it manifested as a physical presence.
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It's a grim thought.
Why We’re Still Talking About This Book in 2026
Waters didn't just write a horror story. She wrote a eulogy for a version of England that was dying. The National Health Service (NHS) was just starting. The "common" people were finally getting a seat at the table.
Faraday represents that new world, but he’s poisoned by his envy of the old one. He doesn't want to destroy the class system; he wants to be at the top of it.
The horror isn't that the house is haunted. The horror is that we can be haunted by our own shadows. Our own wants.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Read
If you’re planning on diving into this one (or re-reading it), keep these things in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the "As If" Phrases: Faraday uses the phrase "as if" constantly. It's his way of distancing himself from the truth. Pay attention to whenever he describes something "as if" it were alive.
- Focus on the House's Layout: Waters uses the architecture of Hundreds Hall to show the family's decline. As they lose money, they shut down more rooms, and the "haunting" gets more concentrated.
- Read the Subtext of the NHS: The book is set exactly when the British healthcare system was changing. Faraday’s role as a doctor is a symbol of his power over the "weak" aristocracy.
- Don't Trust the Narrator: Treat every word Faraday says as a potential lie. He isn't necessarily lying to you, but he’s definitely lying to himself.
The real "Little Stranger" isn't under the floorboards. It’s the parts of ourselves we refuse to look at in the mirror. Once you see it that way, you can't unsee it.
To fully grasp the impact of the ending, look at the very last paragraph of the novel again. Notice how Faraday is the only one left. He got what he wanted. He has the house. He has the keys. And he is utterly, devastatingly alone. That's the real ghost story.