Sarah Waters' new novel, The Little Stranger, was officially published this week and has already been very well received indeed by the UK, US and Australian press:

'Sarah Waters combines spookiness and social observation in a gripping tale' Hilary Mantel, reviewing for The Guardian.

'A stunning ghost story that nurtures Turn of the Screw-style ambiguities ... Waters waits until the last possible minute to unveil her answers, and then brings the book's blurry phantasmagoria into startling focus' Time Out New York

'It may not resemble Waters's earlier work, but The Little Stranger is a corker. An exercise in moderation and flawless cadence, it is a story pulsing with malevolent energy; the atmosphere is wickedly, addictively tense. This is a writer at the height of her powers' The Australian

'Waters has managed to write a near-perfect gothic novel while at the same time confidently deploying the form into fresher territory. It's an astonishing performance, right down to the book's mournful and devastating final sentence' Salon.com.

There's plenty of bonus material for Sarah's fans to enjoy as well:

Read an interview with Sarah in the Wall Street Journal: online.wsj.com.

In the first of the Hay festival Haycasts, Sarah Waters discusses her latest novel, The Little Stranger with Claire Armistead about a fascination with ghost stories that has its roots in her own childhood, why she found herself drawn back again to the 1940s and what it is she loves about manipulating the genre form. Watch the video at www.guardian.co.uk.

'Ghosts, Gothic horror, lesbians, poltergeists, female hysteria... There are hidden depths to Sarah Waters.' The 'most remarkable storyteller since Daphne du Maurier' talks to Robert McCrum about 'effete boyfriends, postwar austerity and why she's kicked out the corsets in her latest novel', also at www.guardian.co.uk.

And you can read the first chapter of The Little Stranger over at www.sarahwaters.com.