The Little Stranger

by Sarah Waters

The words used to drive me into secret rages, because on the one hand I wanted desperately to live up to my own reputation for cleverness, and on the other it seemed very unfair, that that cleverness, which I had never asked for, could be turned into something with which to cut me down.

too well-made to be anything other than pre-war,

‘Yes, I’ve often thought it must be exhausting to be a woman. ’ ‘It is, if you do it properly. Which is why I so seldom do.

She went into the house as if stepping through a rip in the night and instantly sealing it up behind her.

I left Warwickshire for London on the fifth of February,

This is only interesting because I happened to read this on the 5th of february