The Little Stranger: Plot Summary (Edexcel A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes

The Little Stranger: Plot Summary

1. Dr. Faraday, living in Lidcote, England, tends to his patients and is called to Hundreds Hall, a once-grand manor home.
2. Faraday recalls visiting Hundreds Hall as a child for Empire Day, where he received a medal and has been fascinated by it ever since.
3. At Hundreds Hall, he meets Mrs. Ayers and her adult children, Roderick and Caroline, the only surviving members of the Ayers family.

4. Colonel Ayers and Susan Ayers, Mrs. Ayers' firstborn daughter, have died, with Susan's death from diphtheria being particularly tragic.
5. Faraday is surprised by the deteriorated state of Hundreds Hall and offers Roderick free electric therapy for his war-injured leg.

6. Mrs. Ayers throws a party at Hundreds, hoping to find a suitor for Caroline, but the party ends abruptly when Caroline's dog, Gyp, bites a young girl, Gillian.
7. To avoid court, Mrs. Ayers decides to have Gyp put down, which Faraday performs, causing tension in the family.
8. Roderick begins acting irrationally, stops accepting therapy, and tells Faraday about an evil presence haunting him.
9. Faraday dismisses Roderick's fears as delusions, but after Roderick's room catches fire, he is placed in a mental institution.
10. Faraday takes Caroline to a dance to cheer her up, and a colleague suggests he romantically pursue her.
11. Odd occurrences resume at Hundreds: objects move, phones ring with no one on the other end, and Mrs Ayers is trapped in the family nursery.
12. Caroline tells Faraday she believes a poltergeist haunts Hundreds, but he dismisses it as nonsense.

13. Mrs. Ayers claims her deceased daughter Susan's ghost is with her and often unkind; Faraday thinks Mrs. Ayers is self-harming and plans to institutionalise her.
14. Mrs Ayers is found dead under strange circumstances, officially ruled a suicide, with cuts, bruises, and bite marks on her body.
15. Faraday pressures Caroline to set a wedding date, but she calls off the wedding when she learns he wants to live at Hundreds.
16. Faraday hurls crude insults at Caroline after she rejects him.
17. Caroline is found dead from an apparent suicide, with the maid, Betty, believing a supernatural force killed her.
18. At the inquest, Faraday testifies that Caroline believed in ghosts and that he thinks she committed suicide, although he is uncertain.
19. Caroline's death is officially ruled a suicide.
20. Several years later, Faraday continues to visit the now-abandoned Hundreds Hall and senses the supposed evil entity, only to see his reflexion.