The Woman In Black
It engrosses you, dragging you in to experience the fear that Kipps does in regular doses throughout. Each turn of the page still leaves me with an uneasy night’s sleep.
Following the release of the film on 10th February, The Woman in Black is now getting a new wave of readers, of this already extremely successful novel.
Written by Susan Hill, it tells the story of a young solicitor from London, Arthur Kipps who is sent to Crythin Gifford, a town situated next to the marshes of the Nine Lives Causeway. He is sent to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, where he has his first sighting of the woman in black in the church. As he organises Drablow’s paperwork, he begins to unfold the horror of the history behind the remote house. The locals will not speak of what happened and Kipps is continually haunted by images of the past; the sound of a pony and trap approaching, a child’s cry in the marsh, a strange banging in the middle of the night and the visitation from the woman with the wasted face, who’s secret he is desperate to discover. The film does not follow the book exactly, therefore it is a must read for those who have only watched the recent release. It engrosses you from the very first page, dragging you in to experience the fear that Kipps does in regular doses throughout. I have personally read this book several times and each turn of the page still leaves me with an uneasy night’s sleep. This novel builds up from subtle hints of unease into an ending that will stay with you long after putting it down. It is based on a true story that was said to have occurred in the Cotswold village, Lower Slaughter. Originally published in 1983, its ability to scare has spanned over more than three decades. It has been adapted for the stage in the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden and screen, appearing first on our televisions in 1989. For anyone who is a fan of ghost stories, I dare you to read this one!
Lucy Walton