A Stranger in My Grave was published by Random House in 1960 and is considered by many critics to be Millar’s masterpiece — a novel that operates simultaneously as mystery, psychological study, and devastating critique of the comfortable California bourgeoisie.
Daisy Harker is plagued by a recurring nightmare: she stands in a cemetery and sees her own gravestone, with a death date of December 2, four years ago. She did not die on that date — she is alive and apparently well, married to a successful man, living in comfortable San Felice. But she cannot remember what happened on December 2, and the more she tries to recall, the more her family and husband resist her investigation.
Millar’s method is archaeological: as Daisy digs into the past, layer after layer of domestic respectability is stripped away to reveal the corruption beneath — failed marriages, hidden parentage, sexual exploitation, class violence. The “stranger” in Daisy’s grave is both literal (someone died that day, metaphorically buried along with Daisy’s memory) and figurative (the person Daisy might have become, the life she was prevented from living). The novel is a searing indictment of patriarchal domesticity: the men in Daisy’s life have systematically controlled her knowledge of herself.
Collecting A Stranger in My Grave
First edition (Random House, New York, 1960): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $150–$400
- Very good: $50–$150