[Flashback] Susan Hill talks about writing ‘The Woman in Black’—and the movie starring Daniel Radcliffe
A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
“Most ghost stories are short stories,” the author says, explaining what led her to write The Woman in Black. “And I just wondered whether there was anything that could be revived in the ghost story to make it full length again…”
In this classic ghost story from Susan Hill, an up-and-coming London solicitor named Arthur Kipps is sent to a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client. Mrs. Alice Drablow’s house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind its sheltered windows.
The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images—a rocking chair in a deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and, most terrifying of all, a ghostly woman dressed all in black. Psychologically terrifying and deliciously eerie, The Woman in Black is a remarkable thriller of the first rate.
The novel is the basis for the major motion picture starring Daniel Radcliffe.
The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story
by Susan Hill
Vintage
Horror Fiction Classics, British Horror Fiction, British & Irish Literary Fiction
Find the original novel The Woman in Black on Amazon
Find the movie adaptation of The Woman in Black on Amazon
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Woman In Black: Susan Hill On Set Interview [HD] | ScreenSlam
“I’d read a lot read a little lot of ghost stories—which I’d always enjoyed—but most ghost stories, apart from two very famous ones, are short stories,” the author says in the interview, explaining what led her to write The Woman in Black. “And I just wondered whether there was anything that could be revived in the ghost story to make it full length again so that people wouldn't think of it only as short stories.”
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Related links
After 33 Years in London, The Woman in Black to Tour U.K.; See New Photos of West End Run (Playbill)
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill audiobook review – immersive gothic horror (The Guardian)
Whatever Wednesday: 'The Woman in Black' (The Fandomentals)
The Woman in Black | The British horror film that ruined Christmas (WhyNow)
Susan Hill on how growing up in 1950s Scarborough was a writer's dream (The Independent)
Susan Hill: 'It's a knotty problem but I think there are some people, not many, who have the devil in them' (The Guardian)
Women Horror Writers You Need To Read Before You See Elisabeth Moss In SHIRLEY (We Are Movie Geeks)
Woman In Black author Susan Hill says she's broke despite her book selling millions (Daily Mail)
10 Great Horror Novel Adaptations (That Aren't Stephen King) (Screen Rant)
Susan Hill: ‘When you read a lot, you start writing your own stories’ (The Guardian)
Susan Hill: The Woman in Black author talks evil urges, prison reform (The Independent)
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