However, after extolling its virtues, I would add one note of discontent – I found the ending a let-down. After building and then maintaining an impressive amount of tension throughout the novel, Waters’ ending is something of an anticlimax. The reader is left with several important questions that remain unanswered. And whilst unanswered questions at the end of a book is not in itself a bad thing, the lack of closure in The Little Stranger left me with a feeling of being slightly cheated. I was, perhaps naively, expecting some major revelation at the end of the text, and was left with a lingering sense of disapppointment.

Don’t be put off. This is still a haunting and beautifully-written novel, set at a fascinating moment in British history that has often been neglected in favour of the world-changing decades that preceded and followed it. As always in Waters’ novels, the characters are cleverly drawn, strongly resisting the labels of ‘likeable’ or ‘unlikeable’ whilst remaining constantly engaging.

Strongly recommended.

If you like Sarah Waters, you might also like: A. S. Byatt; Joanne Harris; Jeanette Winterson.

Buy The Little Stranger on Amazon.