The Stranger: Wonderful story

SUMMARY OF "THE STRANGER" OF NORMAN WHITNEY

The story starts on 31^st October, 1964, with the arrival of a man to Woodend. He was tall, had dark hair, and had strange green eyes. He was looking for a hotel in Woodend but there wasn’t so Mrs. Harrison gave him a room to spend the night. The man was interested in the village. All the villagers like him because he was very polite and good looking.

 It was the first Sunday and he came back to advertise he will open a shop in Woodend. He had some problems because not all the people were agree to have a shop in this village. But Dave Slatin, the stranger, explained to the villagers that he only want to be one of them. He said them what is his idea for the shop. He will sell the products of the village and he will help to improve the village. But soon Dave needed and assistant so he decided to hire Anna. Dave and Anna got along very well and even he invited her out several times and they have already kissed.

The Corner Shop was a success.  But there was something rare in the shop. Upstairs the shop there was a room that always was close and nobody could get in.

One day, a mysterious customer arrived to the shop; Anna was very surprised because the costumer was the famous star Greta Gordon. Greta and Dave went to the Special Orders Room. Ten minutes later she left the room but she was pale and she was crying. Anna asked her the reason of her condition but she only said “You can’t tell anyone that I been here” and Greta gave Anna an autograph. For other hand, Anna was in love with Peter and she will married with him. One day, Anna read an announcement which said that Joanna Leigh has broken her arm so Greta Gordon will be the star in “Beautiful Woman”.

Anna was working in the shop when another special customer arrived. He was Mike Bailey, a football player. He went to the special room with Dave at the surprised look of Anna. Dave told her to go home, but she stayed in the shop. When the customer went out the room, he was very nervous. The next day, Anna and Peter watched in the football match that Mike Bailey scored a goal but it hits goalkeeper’s neck and he could return to play more.

Another day Peter discovered that Anna and Dave were going out together and he was very angry.

On October another special customer arrived. He was Arthur Riseman. Anna tried to talk with him but he was very exalted. So she travelled to find more information about him. Then Anna bought a newspaper, there she could read that a plane of ICS has been crashed and the passengers have been dead. So Arthur will be the new Chairman of ICS.

The next day Dave left the shop early so Anna decided to go to the special room and discover what was inside. First, she thought there was nothing but the she saw some boxes in the floor. When she opened them she found a lot of money, a doll with broken arms and a magazine with his broken pages. Next, Anna heard a voice behind her someone was standing on the door. Dave Stalin was behind her very angry. Dave took Anna’s arm and held it tightly. Then Dave explained what he would like to do with Anna, like get married and have children. 

On 31^st October, Anna arrived at home, she was very ill. She couldn’t speak and move. At seven o’clock, Peter heard shouting in the shop. He could saw the shop on fire and Dave was inside but he wouldn’t move so he died burned. When he returned to Anna’s house he heard a scream and he could know that Anna was dead.

Personally, I think that this is a very interesting story and it has an unexpected final. It’s a good book to practice English because the vocabulary of this is not so complicated and it doesn’t have a lot of pages. I recommend a lot this book for teenager readers.