The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story

Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black is the rare ghost story that manages to feel both timeless and freshly terrifying. From the first page, the atmosphere tightens like a noose: fog, marshes, and isolation become as frightening as any apparition. Hill’s prose is spare yet lyrical, the kind that gives you chills not because of gore or shock, but because she lets your imagination run loose in the shadows she carefully builds.

The woman in black is one of the most complex and haunting ghosts in literature. She is not just a figure of malice, but a presence steeped in emotion that makes her unforgettable. The horror lies not only in her appearances but in the way she unsettles everything she touches.

What elevates the novel is how fully it show more inhabits the tradition of the Gothic ghost story while sharpening it for modern readers. Every creak of the house, every roll of the fog, every moment of silence feels alive with menace. Reading it alone at night is an exercise in bravery, and even in daylight, its images linger.

For me, this is a five-star book, not just for its ability to frighten, but for the way it treats the ghost as a character with her own tragic weight. It is chilling, yes, but it is also profound. show less

Now this is my kind of ghost story. In the past I've enjoyed books like The Turning of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House, but have always been left feeling just a little bit frustrated. You aren't quite sure if they are ghosts stories or tales of madness. You can't trust the narrator, which makes them both wonderful and infuriating.

The Woman is Black doesn't take that approach. It is absolutely a ghost story and it scared me more than I'd like to admit (but in a good way!)

A young solicitor, Arthur Kipps, is dispatched to a remote corner of England to resolve the affairs of a recently deceased client, Mrs. Drablow. She had lived alone in a huge, old mansion, Eel Marsh House, on the outskirts of town. Kipps quickly realizes that show more things won't be as simple as he'd hoped, but every attempt he makes to get more information is thwarted. The townspeople's furtive glances and refusal to talk about Eel Marsh House heighten his suspicions that there's something very wrong with the house.

I think if I could sum up the book in one word it would be: satisfying. It perfectly fulfilled my own personal taste for a ghost story. I don't like graphic scenes of horror, but I love a good scare. I also want good characters and a believable plot. This one had the perfect balance of all of those factors and on top of that, the writing was excellent.

It has the best and most disturbing description of fog that I've ever read...

"It was a mist like a damp, clinging cobwebby thing, fine and yet impenetrable. It smelled and taste quite different from the yellow filthy fog of London; that was choking and thick and still, this was salty, light and pale and moving in front of my eyes all the time. I felt confused, teased by it, as though it were made up of millions of live fingers that crept over me, hung on to me and then shifted away again."

Another reason I loved this story is Kipps himself. So often ghost stories seem to contain weak lead characters that are easily frightened. I think I trusted Kipps' description of the events more because he was determined not to be easily scared off by rumors. The story scares with both the tangible and intangible, both scary in their own way. For example...

"At that moment I began to doubt my own reality."

Is anything more terrifying than that?

I absolutely recommend this one for anyone and everyone who likes a good scare. show less

There are books which are art and books which are craft. This is not a value judgement, for there are many works of art which fail and many works of craft which entertain. And so when I describe Susan Hill's The Woman in Black as an entertaining piece of craftwork, it's meant fondly, not disparagingly. Written in 1983, it's an enjoyable pastiche of a Victorian ghost story, with heavily-laced descriptive writing to create an oppressive, brooding atmosphere, and some well-written scenes, such as the initial sighting of the titular 'woman in black' in the churchyard. A forgiving reader will enjoy, for a night or two, the easy, spooky thrills of the story.

However, I found myself increasingly frustrated at the lack of substance – or, at show more least, deep substance – behind the impeccable style. The mystery was entirely predictable, including the supposed 'shock' ending; the only shock for me was that it was so, because I had heard such great things about the novel (or, more accurately, novella) that I expected something more. The motivations of the characters are under-developed; this is a hindrance when it comes to minor characters like Mr Daily or Jerome, or even our narrator Arthur Kipps, but becomes frustrating and outright damaging when it comes to the Woman in Black herself. The foundation for her malicious revenges seemed weak, for while treated somewhat unjustly she had been the victim of chance and calamity, not malice; the source of her power remains unexplained; and the reason why her final 'revenge' takes so long to manifest seems for no other reason than to provide that predictable twist ending.

Susan Hill takes all of the conventional ingredients of the classic ghost story – fog and mist, half-glimpsed figures, haunted houses with doors that creak open during a storm – and, well, follows the recipe. There's nothing new or unconventional done, no new lens to peer through. Instead, there's a highly capable facsimile, a pulp story that wouldn't have made many waves if it had been written and published in the late Victorian or Edwardian era in which it is set, but which to some of its readers since 1983 must seem special simply by achieving the same effect.

But those old original ghost stories were meant as pulp, as diversions - they have lasted and been elevated to a higher literary status because of what they achieved aesthetically. A modern book, such as The Woman in Black either reproduces the aesthetics and accepts a modest, respectable status, or seeks higher ground by doing something different with the recipe. Susan Hill chooses the former: delivering an impeccable aesthetic with unremarkable, conventional trappings. And this isn't meant too harshly either; The Woman in Black is a diverting experience for a couple of reading sessions, and doesn't outstay its welcome. Not every dish has to be original to fill our bellies for a day. show less

After my family pouring over this chilling novel at Christmas (not prompted by the recent blockbuster, I might add), in characteristically Relish fashion I was desperate to save The Woman in Black as a little treat for myself once the hoo hah died down. After diving for the TV/Radio on several occasions to save the entire experience from being ruined by Daniel Radcliffe's fizog, I have been beaten into submission and, as recommended by the marvellous Susan Hill herself, managed to devour all 216 pages all in one go one blustery Sunday afternoon in February.

To state the obvious for all of you who have no doubt heard the rumours if you haven't already read it yourselves, this book is bloody terrifying. So scary that I actually had to take show more myself off to sit with the boyfriend just to have someone else in the room with me!

I have been drawn to Susan Hill ever since reading the disturbing I'm the King of the Castle a few years ago. The Small Hand, a chilling ghost story built around the same mould as The Woman in Black, appeared on my wishlist almost as soon as it was published and has been sat on my bookshelf unread (who knows why!) ever since...

This particular story begins with Arthur Kipps; a man in the autumn of his life who, despite his loving family and creature comforts, has clearly been marked by some harrowing experience lurking in his past, an experience that we are prompted to revisit after a night telling seemingly harmless ghost stories with his family. Travelling back in time to his life as a young solicitor, we follow Arthur as he is sent by his firm to handle the estate of the deceased Alice Drablow, former inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, a bleak building that stands across 'Nine Lives Causeway' on the edge of the remote village of Crythin Gifford.

Following the appearance of a gaunt looking woman at Alice's funeral and his local guide's baffling reaction to enquiries after the worrying figure, Kipps is very quickly dragged into a cycle of inescapable horror, pulled to and from Eel Marsh House and the vengeful, tormented spirits within....

**Shudder**

I really am a bit of a wuss myself but everyone I know who has read this book, from English literature students to work colleagues to wise Mummy Relish herself have delighted at the terror lurking within this book. As Susan Hill herself very astutely points out in this interview with Professor John Mullen, the true enjoyment with scary stories of any kind lies in the ability to be afraid whilst being within a safe environment yourself. She quite rightly points out that, whilst there is little joy to be had for most people in truly dangerous and terrifying situations, there is nothing like the anxiety we regularly indulge in witnessing unspeakable terrors whilst safely ensconced in your armchair with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Hill's description of Jennet Humfrye's (The 'Woman in Black') malevolent, wasted appearance is just phenomenally chilling and really starts the book off on the right note, mainly because you simply do not (and yet do at the same time - how teasing) want to stumble across her again. This is, I think, what you would call a classic ghost story. We are set up from the beginning to travel into Arthur's past and encounter this spirit, who we just know can mean nothing but ill for the poor chap and, because of the framework and devices used (e.g. when it gets foggy/stormy, you just know something bad is going to happen) some readers I know, including Daddy Relish, although appreciating Susan Hill's undeniable talent as a writer, found everything just a little too obvious...

I have to admit that none of this made any difference for me. In fact, the 'obvious' elements of this book are there for good reason; to build up the tension! Due to the causeway, Arthur is at times completely cut-off from civilisation and all lifelines should he need them. Thank God for little Spider; a dog lent to Arthur by one of the villagers, who after repeated, unheeded warnings about the house and its history, proves to be reassuring company both Arthur and the intrepid reader him/herself.

Do not be mistaken for thinking this to be your bog standard ghost tale - M R James style. This is no ghost story of the antiquary; this is harrowing tale with real flesh and bones, not some mere shadowy floating around your bedroom. As with many great stories; love, loss and revenge feature heavily in The Woman in Black and our fear is satisfyingly amplified by the well-thought out history of the characters, both living and dead.

All I can say is, like I did, be brave, read this wonderful book and acquaint yourself with Susan Hill before someone ruins it for you...

http://relishreads.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/woman-in-black.html show less

Another long-timer in my TBR down! Obviously after reading The Haunting of Hill House, this was the next logical step.

Arthur Kipps, up-and-coming young lawer, is sent to tend to the estate of recently deceased widow Alice Drablow. Upon arriving at the small village of Crythin Gifford, Kipps finds that the locals regarded Mrs. Drablow and her isolated manor, Eel Marsh House, with a wariness bordering on fear. Feeling rather superior to what he regards as uneducated superstition, Kipps resolves to stay overnight at Eel Marsh House, the better to complete his work efficiently. Once at the house, however, and trapped by the tide, Kipps discovers that the residents of Crythin Gifford feared the old woman and her house for good reason.

This show more was a truly creepy book. I’m very glad we’re into the springtime here; reading this book in the dark of winter would have been terrifying. As it was, I found myself thoroughly creeped out on more than one occasion. Hill does a great job at providing us with an unforgettable and menacing location in Eel Marsh House. The grand, ancient manor, sitting high in a desolate landscape, unreachable and inescapable during the high tide is claustrophobic and vividly unnerving. The Woman in Black herself, with her skeletally thin and bone white face, and unceasing aura of malevolence and hate is a figure out of a nightmare.

Horror fans: this is a must read! There’s an excellent reason The Woman in Black is considered a classic in the genre. Any one looking for a quick, creepy read need look no further. show less

After watching both film adaptations, the visually stunning James Watkins version with Daniel Radcliffe and the more atmospheric, low-budget BBC version, I finally returned to the source: Susan Hill’s novel.

The Woman in Black is a perfectly crafted homage to Victorian ghost stories. Hill doesn’t try to reinvent the genre; instead, she leans into familiar motifs: fog, marshes, silence, isolation, to build a story that slowly seeps under your skin. Eel Marsh House is not just an isolated haunted house cut off by tides. It’s a symbol of grief, loss, and obsession.

What sets this novel apart is its subtle horror and thematic depth. More than a simple ghost story, it’s a reflection on sorrow, injustice, and a spirit bound to the world show more by unresolved pain, which transcends time.

Though brief and sometimes predictable, Hill’s novel is hauntingly atmospheric and has rightly earned its place as a modern gothic classic. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys horror that whispers rather than screams. show less

Deliciously spooky ghost story, written, constructed and paced to absolute perfection. The debt to MR James is graciously acknowledged, and it saves its greatest shock for the final page, leaving the reader gasping with horror.

Arthur Kipps, junior solicitor is despatched to a remote, windswept, fog-bound corner of Britain, where Eel Marsh House rests far out on a lonely causeway, cut off for hours at a time by the tide. There he is to put the affairs of the deceased client in order. The locals are nervous, however, and at the funeral he sees a woman dressed all in black who is invisible to his companion. Strange sounds, odd occurrences, terrifying encounters on a fog-bound road: this could so easily have slipped into pastiche, but Susan show more Hill carries it off with aplomb. Spot-on reading for this time of the year. show less