The Woman in Black
Ratings85
Average rating3.6
First published in 1983, The Woman in Black is Susan Hill's best-loved novel, and the basis for the UK's second longest ever running stage play, and a major film starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer, travels to a remote village to put the affairs of a recently deceased client, Alice Drablow in order. As he works alone in her isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover disturbing secrets - and his unease grows when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed in black. The locals are strangely unwilling to talk about the unsettling occurrence, and Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent...
Series
Featured Series
2 primary books#1 in The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 1947 with contributions by Susan Hill and Martyn Waites.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Oh.. my.. GOD
This story was so atmospheric and creepy, I'm so happy I read this in the day time
I could picture every character so clearly and I felt like I really got to know them in only 200 short pages
also Spider the dog? the best character!
Final thoughts from my notes:
- The ending literally made me gasp
- After leaving the Eel Marsh House the first time, I found myself dragging myself through the book
- It's chilling and unsettling
- Although the ending was predictable and I saw it coming a mile away — the way it was told and excuted was incredible. The ending sucks you in and spits you out with an abrupt ending making it a fitting end for this book
- The ending was so good that it bumped my rating from a 3.5 to a 4. Though I liked the writing, I wasn't sure if I could see myself reading this again but the way it ended just tied up the story so well and devastatingly that I could see myself reading this again during Halloween time.
- The writing was incredible. After only a few pages in, I already wanted to read more of her work.
- Definitely a must read for writers
An engaging, creepy read that really helped me set a tone for this year's spooky season! It maintains a sort of low level, constant eeriness without ever going over the top, but also without ever spiraling downward into dullness. That's a tricky thing to get right and I found the balancing act on display here to be really impressive! A smidge more action might've been an improvement, but it may also have cheapened things? I really came away from this one respecting the author's restraint. And there's no denying that when the story finally does show some teeth it's done so to great effect.
I'm gonna have to dig up the original film adaptation soon! It looks good. Maybe do a double feature with the Daniel Radcliffe version? I remember nothing about that movie other than that I thought it was surprisingly solid.
