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The Woman in Black

(The Woman in Black #1)

Susan Hill

3.73 · Rating details · 50,042 ratings · 5,779 reviews

Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a pale young woman, dressed all in bl ...more

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Paperback, Vintage Classic, 200 pages

Published October 4th 2007 by Vintage Classics (first published October 10th 1983)

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Average rating 3.73 ·

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· 50,042 ratings · 5,779 reviews

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Oct 28, 2015 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-to-film, gothic, horror

“A man may be accused of cowardice for fleeing away from all manner of physical dangers but when things supernatural, insubstantial and inexplicable threaten not only his safety and well-being but his sanity, his innermost soul, then retreat is not a sign of weakness but the most prudent course.”

The young solicitor sent to Crythin Gifford to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased Mrs. Alice Drablow is a man by the name of Arthur Kipps.The people of Crythin Gifford are like the people o ...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Bill Kerwin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: ghost-stories, gothic, weird-fiction

A disappointment. I kept hearing about how this was a real honest-to-god, old-fashioned ghost story steeped in the tradition of James and James (Henry and Montague Rhodes)that delivered a frisson of genuine terror and some very fine writing as well. Alas! I didn't find any of this to be true.

For starters, I didn't believe the narrator. He is a man in his forties--self-described as "unimaginative"--who years before suffered a scarring supernatural experience, yet he sounds for all the world like ...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, classics

I said in another review that I'm near impossible to scare because my parents were relaxed with horror movie censorship when I was a young kid. I was oversaturated with horror from a young age and tend to find it more laughable than spine-tingling.

However, this book may be the only exception I have found so far. In recent years I have flat-out avoided horror stories because they do nothing for me... I can stomach Stephen King but only because his books tend to be about more than the basic horror ...more

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Oct 06, 2019 Sandra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kb, historical, horror

Arthur Kipps (an up-and-coming solicitor) is sent by his employer to Crythin Gifford (a remote village) to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client (the late Mrs. Alice Drablow) of Eel Marsh House. When he gets there he is haunted by the ghost of a woman in black...

This was a very eerie, spooky read. I had a hard time putting this book down, I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. The book had a terrific gothic atmosphere, especially the creepy, very isolated Eel Marsh H ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ghosts-and-mysteries

A chilling, traditional ghost story, with a strong Victorian feel: a lone lawyer goes to a spooky house on the marshes, plagued by stories of madness and death. No great surprises, but shocking none-the-less. It is skilfully written, so that most of the scary stuff happens in your head, rather than being explicit on the page.

NARRATOR
Arthur Kipps, the main character and the narrator is very pragmatic and always tries to dismiss his fears and find a rational explanation, which serves to make his A chilling, traditional ghost story, with a strong Victorian feel: a lone lawyer goes to a spooky house on the marshes, plagued by stories of madness and death. No great surprises, but shocking none-the-less. It is skilfully written, so that most of the scary stuff happens in your head, rather than being explicit on the page.

NARRATOR
Arthur Kipps, the main character and the narrator is very pragmatic and always tries to dismiss his fears and find a rational explanation, which serves to make his story more believable – and thus more alarming. All the way through, his greatest need is to uncover the truth, however unpalatable it may be. However, it’s not what he sees or hears that really scares him, but what he FEELS, and the power of the Woman in Black’s emotion. His feelings towards her change from concern through fear to anger.

However, despite his pragmatism, right at the beginning Kipps does have a strong conviction that a particular house is part of his destiny (which implies some openness to the supernatural), and when he first arrives at the town he says he felt like “a spectre at some cheerful feast”.

WEATHER IMAGERY
The weather (mist, rain, wind and sun) is a major character in the book; sometimes it parallels the situation and mood of the characters (mists and disappearances) and sometimes it is in total contrast (sun at a funeral). It could be clichéd, but, perhaps because it doesn't always match the plot, it has more dramatic weight.

BIRDS
One feature I didn’t notice on first reading was the birds. Kipps himself is a bit of a birdwatcher, and different birds make fleeting appearances: a menacing “snake-necked bird”, the woman in black looking like a carrion bird, a nice happy robin later on.

PROBLEMS WITH TIME
The first chapter jumps around in a confusing way, which doesn’t really matter plot-wise, but is disconcerting.

The bigger mystery is when it is set. Everything about it feels Victorian (foggy London, pony and trap, steam trains), but she mentions telephones, electric lights (even in a remote house on the marshes), cars, cycling as a (not particularly wealthy) boy, a grave stone from “years back” is inscribed “190...”, and Kipps makes reference to Dickens and the treatment of Victorian servants 60 years earlier. Each time I’ve read this book, I’ve been more puzzled and irritated by this, though it's still a very good book.

If you like it, The Turn of the Screw is in a similar vein.

And don’t believe those who say it is like a ghost story written by Jane Austen!
...more

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Oct 04, 2011 Jemidar rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: culled, ghosts-horror

Rating Clarification: 2.5 stars.

Disappointing and predictable, this Gothic ghost story isn't a patch on the classics of the genre such as Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. The writing is uneven and the author fails to keep the suspense building often interspersing awkward/boring moments between the tense scenes, which unfortunately were all too few. Part of the problem with the tension was that it was all so predictable I didn't even feel the need to check the ending like I usually do. In othe ...more

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Dec 11, 2017 Dem rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, classic

After finishing and loving The Silent CompanionsI really wanted to another gothic/period style ghost story to creep me out and when The Woman In Black came up in in my recommendations feed I was excited about the novel after reading the book's blurb.

image:

What I heard next chilled and horrified me....
The noise of the pony trap grew fainter and then stopped abruptly and away on the marsh was a curious draining, sucking, churning sound, which went on, together with the shrill neighing and whinny ...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Carol rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, favorites, saw-the-movie, gothic, ghosts, horror

A very good ghost story with creepy sounds, a marsh with lots of fog and danger, and a haunting revengeful spirit. I was all set to give this book a strong 3 stars until the last chapter's chilling, horrid surprise ending. Now I can't wait to see the movie with Daniel Radcliffe. This is a GREAT October read! ...more

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Jan 01, 2018 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

You know, what I love about British ghost stories are that they are so understated, like everything else in the country. They don't come bellowing and and dripping gory entrails - they creep upon you, and whisper "boo" almost apologetically in your ear. I think M. R. James started this trend, and all others seem to be following it.

Susan Hill starts her novel, "The Woman in Black", showing Arthur Kipps, an elderly lawyer and the first person narrator, having a quiet Christmas Eve with his family. You know, what I love about British ghost stories are that they are so understated, like everything else in the country. They don't come bellowing and and dripping gory entrails - they creep upon you, and whisper "boo" almost apologetically in your ear. I think M. R. James started this trend, and all others seem to be following it.

Susan Hill starts her novel, "The Woman in Black", showing Arthur Kipps, an elderly lawyer and the first person narrator, having a quiet Christmas Eve with his family. However, we are given a hint of the tragedy in Kipps' life, when he casually mentions his status as a widower in his early twenties. When his stepchildren ask him to narrate a ghost story, the normally sedate lawyer becomes extremely agitated and walks out - because the children have touched a raw nerve. For there is a very real ghost in Arthur Kipps' past.

As a young man, Arthur is sent to the market town of Crythin Gifford by his boss; to attend the funeral of their client Mrs. Alice Drablow and to sort out her papers, as she has no heirs. Mrs. Drablow lived at Eel Marsh, connected to the mainland by the Nine Lives Causeway and approachable only at low tide: both sides of the causeway are bordered by the treacherous marsh. Kipps thinks nothing of it until he finds that the locals at Crythin Gifford gives the house a long berth and refuse to discuss anything regarding its owner. Things take a turn for the worse when Arthur sights a woman dressed all in black, with a wasted and ravaged face - apparently a ghost.

Ignoring his misgivings, the young lawyer takes up residence at the house on Eel Marsh, but is unable to complete his work as the haunting grows stronger and scarier. Apart from the woman in black, there is a ghostly horse and trap (not seen but only heard) which keeps on plunging into the marsh, accompanied by a child's wail: also, a nursery within the house eerily suspended in time where a rocking chair rocks by itself... as the terrors mount, Arthur discovers the tragedy which is the root cause - and terrifying consequences of sighting the woman in black. He escapes-but the horror follows him...

***

This is a good, old-fashioned ghost story with absolutely no gore and shocks - the one that is best narrated around a campfire on a chill December evening. Susan Hill does a masterly job with the voice of the narrator, which is very much Victorian (hard to believe that the novel was written in 1983). This is absolutely essential, as the horror is very much period and a modern voice would have totally spoilt it.

It is not the ghostly visitations itself that scares one in the novel (though they are sufficiently creepy) but the tone of quiet despair and the starkness of the tragedy. This story, like Stephen King's Cujo, doesn't let the reader escape even after the book is put away - though the author leavens the horror by starting from a point in the protagonist's future when the tragedy has been put behind. However, the ending is sufficiently devastating for it to stay with one for days.

An excellent read to start the year! ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Charlotte rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: the-spookening

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.”

So What’s It About? (from Goodreads)

“Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and t "For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.”

So What’s It About? (from Goodreads)

“Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and most dreadfully–and for Kipps most tragically–The Woman In Black.”

What I Thought

I’m nearly entirely certain that this is the perfect ghost story. Quite simply, it strikes such a delicious balance of coziness and utter terror, with a malevolent spirit hell bent on causing suffering and a bleak, isolated setting that’s so vividly realized you can almost feel the drizzle and fog. It’s entirely possible that the manor on the moors hiding a terrible secret, one that is jealously guarded by the close-lipped locals, is an overdone trope at this point in time, but I think that it’s one I’ll never tire of, and it’s one that is done incomparably well here. The dread builds and builds to an utterly chilling finish, and I’m still shivering while writing this review a month later.

One of the things that I think sets The Woman In Black apart is the way that Arthur’s experiences are clearly coded as traumatic events that scar him for the rest of his life. When it comes down to it, I think a lot of ghost stories have trauma and PTSD at the heart of them – after all, aren’t they about beings who are stuck at one moment in time forever, unable to let go of the deepest pains of their lives, reliving them again and again even after death? What could be more terrifying than the thought that nothing, not even death, can stop you from being stuck in the worst events of your life?

The F Word

The woman in black, Jannet Humphreys, suffered in life because of the punishment and stigma that unwed mothers faced during her time period after being abandoned by the men who impregnated them. Still, I’m not exactly sure that I can say her story is a feminist one, when the result of it is her going insane from her loss and suffering and ultimately becoming so vindictive that she destroys lives for generations to come.
...more

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Jul 16, 2016 Poonam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

2.5 stars

The story starts with our main protagonist- Arthur Kipps narrating his paranormal experience to his close family and friends.
The start of the book reminded me of The Turn of the Screw as this also starts with a similar narration pattern and both these stories revolve around an isolated house.
But that is where the similarity ends.

The setting of 'Eel Marsh House' is spooky, it is foggy surrounded by marshes and the accessibility to the house is blocked during high tide....

Arthur see's Th ...more

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Oct 29, 2018 Karl marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: centipede-milipede-own, 2018-10-books-bought

This hardcover book is copy 40 of 300 (Plus 20 copies for contributors) printed and signed by:

Susan Hill
Reggie Oliver - (interior art)
Simon Prades - (cover art)

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Oct 12, 2020 Trish rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I've seen the movie a few years ago and quite liked it so of course I had to read the novel it was based on. This is a classic gothic novel (though much younger than the original ones).

We start with a now settled lawyer named Arthur Kipps who lives at a nice house with his (second) wife and four stepchildren. One Christmas, they ask him to tell a ghost story. He's quite shaken by their request, shuts himself away and writes down what happened to him many years ago in the hope that this will fina ...more

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Oct 20, 2020 Gabrielle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic, spooktober-books, horror, historical, movie-fodder, read-in-2020, reviewed, own-a-copy

A quickly read, old-fashioned ghost story that I enjoyed but that also left me wanting...

The setting is a little hard to place, because phones and cars are mentionned, but people travel mostly by train, smoke pipes and live in country estates... Between the two World Wars, perhaps? In this not-quite-modern time, Arthur Kipp, a young sollicitor, is sent to a small country village to represent his firm, who are the estate executor of a Mrs. Drablow, who just passed away. Mr. Kipp attends the funer ...more

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Apr 09, 2018 Horace Derwent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

there's never final tears, sadness can last forever, some people we just can never bury even when we're dead

the whole hole in our chest will still remain, when the ocean pours in, it still leaks...

reminiscing can kill, love loves blood
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

irene, when i remembered you in the mid of some night, i coughed like a dud grenade exploding, i just felt the hole in my chest that wud never be filled. it was not like emptiness which cud be somehow filled, no, it's not like an abyss, it's a barath ...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Char rated it liked it · review of another edition

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.

I was very disappointed with this book. It's much shorter than I thought it was going to be, for one. That's my fault for not checking to see how many pages it was.
I found the prose to be overly descriptive. I get it, the house is located in a marsh by the sea. I get it that there is fog. I get it that the only road to the house is underwater during high tide. Enough already, where is the woman?
Even when the woman shows up, the story continues to be boring.
I did not fi ...more

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May 14, 2019 Kerri rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I liked the way this was written and read it quite quickly. It wasn't as scary as I had anticipated - having seen the film adaptation starring Daniel Radcliffe (which I enjoyed) I suppose I couldn't help but compare the two. I actually think I preferred the film just a bit more, but the book was strong. I loved the dog, Spider a lot. She really added something to the story.
The ending was great, though I won't be specific as to why. It hit me quite hard, even though it came with a strong sense ...more

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Apr 17, 2020 Bren rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-horror, suspense, skimmed-to-finish-or-unfinished, better-or-worse-than-expected, read-and-reviewed, mystery

"Indeed, all the horrors and apparitions of my first visit to the house and the marshes had quite evaporated, along with the mists that had for that short time engulfed me".

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

How eager I was to start this book. As some of you are aware, I'd been seeking an eerie and beguiling book to read. Something that would scare without gore. This was recommended by two people and looked, at first glance to be my type of book.

And I disliked it. Deeply. Sorry but..I wasn't scare ...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Aubrey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-read-on-hand, reviewed, 3-star, r-goodreads, shorty-short, antidote-think-twice-read, antidote-think-twice-all, reality-check, r-2014

3.5/5

I make a habit of not watching the based on movie before reading the propagating book, so the fact that I’m reading not one but two of said unfortunate works (A Clockwork Orange sneaking in during my youth due to college fanboys and the like) is not something I plan on ever happening again. However, it happened, and I will not lie that my expectations have been adjusted accordingly.

While the book is horror, the movie is horror horror horror, tragic past combined with morbidly saturated cine 3.5/5

I make a habit of not watching the based on movie before reading the propagating book, so the fact that I’m reading not one but two of said unfortunate works (A Clockwork Orange sneaking in during my youth due to college fanboys and the like) is not something I plan on ever happening again. However, it happened, and I will not lie that my expectations have been adjusted accordingly.

While the book is horror, the movie is horror horror horror, tragic past combined with morbidly saturated cinematography sprinkled with heart-stopping pop-outs galore. The facts are there, but the plot is vastly different, one phrase of the book playing a much larger role and, indeed, the setting the mood and thematic content for the entirety. In short, the book is nicer, and while I don't agree with the Jane Austen comparison at all, I did admire the spectrum of emotions and thoughts the main character experienced; an authorial sensitivity to human psychology at both the highs and the lows that you don't often come across in literature as a whole.

The balance between cheerful normality and burgeoning dread was well developed one, but ended up sacrificing the more poignant extremes of the movie horrors for its focus on stability. I wasn't a fan of being scared out of my wits every five minutes, but as it is horror, and there were certain masterfully handled cinematic scenes that I was disappointed to not discover in the book, I could have handled a little more thrills and chills. Other reviews have spoken of Hill's talent at writing mood, and while I do emphatically agree with that, I'm someone who's childhood reading was half Tolkien and half Stephen King. If you want to scare me via paper these days, you need to provide a little more visceral imagery than descriptions of internal panic and full bodied terror. Accurate replication of the feelings of fear are all very well, but real terror will strike only when you give me something physical to envision(view spoiler).

However. Neither the book nor the movie end well, but when it comes to the overcast of nervous paranoia chasing the reader or viewer long after the finishing, the book had the movie beat. The movie's extended use of the book's main point of fear (view spoiler) ended up sucking the life out of the original shock, while the book saved up its cards till the moment was right. This made for a far more full-fledged sense of 'you reap what you sow' that pushed up this reader's evaluation that final half star. ...more

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Apr 19, 2011 kwesi 章英狮 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, susan-hill, 2011

Every November we used to play and go in someone's houses and go hunting the ghost that lurks. It seems that I read the book earlier than what I have thought. I can feel the tingle of the cold and smell of the estuary. The dead is coming and hunting me again a little earlier than what I thought.

When Arthur Kipps asked to summon and attend a funeral of Mrs. Alice Drablow, the inhabitant and owner of Eel Marsh House, secrets and lies behind the four walls of the house went blown through the atmosp ...more

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Apr 13, 2018 Bradley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-shelf, horror

In an age (the 80's) when horror was at its peak and ravening monsters of supernatural and human types ravaged the bookstores, Susan Hill decided to write a Victorian ghost story using modern sensibilities but the distinctive flair of the classics.

Since then, it's enjoyed modest popularity and I don't doubt why. It's simple and direct. It tugs at the heartstrings, from sympathy and shared horror to the mystery and even the heartwarming companionship of a plucky dog on the moor during the darkest ...more

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Oct 15, 2015 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I purchased my copy of The Woman in Black at the gift shop whilst seeing the play in the West End.
It’s was one of them stories that I really should have read by now.

I really liked the structure of the story as the main protagonist Arthur Kipps recounts he’s experience of ghosts whilst working as a junior solicitor.

The secluded house is effective and creepy whilst the reason of the haunting is incredibly chilling.

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Feb 01, 2012 Anna rated it it was ok

Hmm. A pseudo-Victorian gothic ghost story that has a very un-Victorian length of 140 pages. To be honest, it's not very good. It reminds me of 14 year old me when I started reading things like Dracula, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and thinking 'there's not much to this writing a classic novel business- I should give it a try'. Cue the dull, rational protagonist (lawyer or doctor obviously) who is thrown into some spooky goings-on and slowly becomes undone in such default settings Hmm. A pseudo-Victorian gothic ghost story that has a very un-Victorian length of 140 pages. To be honest, it's not very good. It reminds me of 14 year old me when I started reading things like Dracula, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and thinking 'there's not much to this writing a classic novel business- I should give it a try'. Cue the dull, rational protagonist (lawyer or doctor obviously) who is thrown into some spooky goings-on and slowly becomes undone in such default settings as spooky misty moore or haunted house. What I didn't understand when I was 14, as Susan Hill doesn't seem to understand in the 1980's when this was written, is that imitation is not all that flattering when it comes to novel writing. Those Victorian/pre-Victorian novels, that everyone now knows, are classics, not for their content, but for how revolutionary they were in their own time and how different they were from what came before them. They were then a reaction against Romanticism, a way to make people's skin crawl in a time when the rational began to, unfavourably for some, overtake the irrational and mystical/religious. This story is displaced in time, adding nothing, and doing nothing.

It is a cliche from beginning to end. Seriously. Look up a list of all the features needed to create a Gothic novel and you can tick them off on a checklist whilst reading it. And if you're thinking, like me, that there is going to be a huge, redeeming twist at the end that throws everything that comes before it into a riotous question mark...you would be wrong. It really is trying to be a legitimate Gothic novel. It doesn't even have an interesting, dubious protagonist ala 'The Turn of the Screw'. It is really....nothing.

However, saying all this you are probably wondering why I have even given it two stars. Well. Embarrassingly enough, this silly ghost story gave me the creeps a little bit. So it partly did it's job I guess. Faces at the window, unlocked doors opening themselves, dogs howling, children screaming, rocking chairs inexplicably set a-rocking...these kinds of things never fail to make me uneasy. And the writing's not terrible. But then, nothing much happens for the first 100 pages and, while many people may call this build-up and making the reader feel tense and uneasy in anticipation of the climax, it was done quite poorly and I wasn't as scared as I should've been. It was quite boring really and my eyes glazed quite a bit during that section.

Anyway, disappointment aside, I am glad I read this ahead of the film as now I probably won't bother seeing it. Although as the ending is...upsetting to say the least (it is the ONLY harrowing bit of the book and is well-written enough to make you feel a jolt of...something) it is so obvious and so expected as to be almost a shock when it actually happens! I can already barely remember the name of the main character...I have a feeling I am not gonna remember this short story for very long at all.

...more

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Oct 12, 2016 Kevin Ansbro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: quintessentially-english, gothic-horror

I read this a while back: it's a grim, good old-fashioned horror story.

For a much more informative review, please may I redirect you to @Cecily's superb appraisal of this book?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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Oct 19, 2018 Tim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, 1980s, horror

Christmas was once known as a time for ghost stories (and in some places, still is). As we start this one, a family is sitting around the fire trying to one up each other, all save Arthur Kipps who wants nothing to do with ghost stories. We will find that he has a pretty good reason not to enjoy them.

As a young man Kipps was sent on an assignment to attend the funeral of a client and then go through all her papers. Her house is old and filled with paperwork seemingly in every drawer and cabinet Christmas was once known as a time for ghost stories (and in some places, still is). As we start this one, a family is sitting around the fire trying to one up each other, all save Arthur Kipps who wants nothing to do with ghost stories. We will find that he has a pretty good reason not to enjoy them.

As a young man Kipps was sent on an assignment to attend the funeral of a client and then go through all her papers. Her house is old and filled with paperwork seemingly in every drawer and cabinet, and when the tide comes in, one is completely isolated, stuck inside the house until the tide finally releases you. This is an excellent set up for a haunted house story and it is fantastically delivered. It is a slow mover (which is rather tricky given its short page count of only 164 in my edition), but there’s a wonderful atmosphere of fear and subtle eeriness throughout.

The book is very clearly inspired by the stories of M. R. James (down to one of the chapters actually being titled after one of his more famous stories). As such it is trying to give us a classic feel, which is all well and good and works for the most part, but it does lead to one of my two problems with the book. Namely: when the hell does this take place? By the mention of automobiles and electricity throughout I would think early 1900s (around the same time as Dracula) but other aspects mention give it an older and also a more modern feel. There was a lingering annoyance as at some points I just wanted a date to end my internal puzzlement. I think this was supposed to give it a “timeless” feel, but I personally found it frustrating.

My only other complains requires a spoiler tag.

(view spoiler)

Those complaints aside, I genuinely liked this book. It is a wonderful atmospheric ghost story, that is creepy just as much for what it DOESN’T show as what it does. There were plenty of points where it could have taken the classic cliché “boo” moment, that it avoided, leaving me hoping something would happen, not because I was bored, but because an actual event would relieve the tension. At least then we would know what we were dealing with, but no… the book works in its own sweet time, and is all the better for it.

A wonderful ghost story and a solid 4/5 ...more

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Oct 28, 2020 Janelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

A nicely written, creepy, vengeful ghost story. It took a while to get going, although once the main character narrating the story goes to the scary house things move along. The ending while not unexpected, is satisfying.

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Jan 27, 2015 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I have known of this story for some time and I will admit I have wanted to read it even before the film (and now its sequel) but it wasnt until recently that I found the book (dont ask books seem to disappear in to the void that is my collection).

The book itself is incredibly atmospheric - which I think makes up a huge part of the appeal to me. The story itself is excellently told as you would expect from Susan Hill, the plot however if you have read much of gothic horror and ghost stories is p ...more

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Dec 01, 2015 Sara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

A bit of a fun ghost story, complete with a house right out of Poe. "I looked up ahead and saw, as if rising out of the water itself, a tall, gaunt house of gray stone with a slate roof, that now gleamed steelily in the light."

Our narrator first confronts the woman in black in a graveyard. How appropriate is that? The story is Gothic in flavor, reminiscent of The Turn of the Screw, and crammed with cliches that work perfectly. I was surprised by the ending, which doesn't happen all that often. I ...more

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May 20, 2020 ✨Bean's Books✨ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a great little ghost story. A short read but rather suspenseful and written in a Victorian style, this book packs quite a punch for how small it is. I really enjoyed reading this one. The ending however was so very sad and ended rather abruptly. Other than that it was a very enjoyable read.

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Feb 12, 2020 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

BR with my friend Sophie!

This is considered to be a classic ghost story, and rightfully so; I found it to be genuinely creepy, and it definitely did not end the way I’d anticipated.

Susan Hill writes in an atmospheric prose style which feels like an homage to the Victorian and Edwardian eras of ghost stories. In fact, one of the chapter titles (“Whistle and I’ll Come to You”) appears to be a nod to a similarly-named story by M.R. James.

It’s a short book, but I think that works to its benefit. An ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Play Book Tag: The Woman in Black, Susan Hill, 2.8 stars?	1	7	Oct 29, 2020 10:54PM
Question about the ending???	37	2088	May 27, 2020 08:42AM
You'll love this ...: April 2020 - The Woman in Black	92	32	May 09, 2020 01:45PM
Excited for the movie!	39	154	Mar 01, 2019 07:01PM
One Cry in the Ni...: The Woman in Black - Christmas 2018 read along	2	6	Dec 24, 2018 10:47AM

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About Susan Hill

Susan Hill

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Susan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better (1969) and some short stories especially "Cockles and Mussels".

She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factor ...more