The Woman in Black - Softcover

Susan Hill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0582026601 ISBN 13: 9780582026605

Publisher: Ad Wes Lon Education, 1989

Synopsis

Part of a series which is intended for class use and for GCSE examination and coursework and also provides material for wider reading programmes. It aims to offer varied and stimulating material for reflecting male and female interests and a real awareness of our multicultural world. The literature is chosen for its accessibility to young readers and the pupils are encouraged to consider alternative ways of looking at the play or story and to express their own view using supporting evidence from the text. There are also suggestions for writing which give pupils a chance to respond to what they have read through imaginative writing and dramatic reconstructions as well as through tradtional critical essays. "The Woman in Black" tells haunting testimony of a young solicitor, Arther Kipps, who records in detail the nightmarish events of his stay in a house on a marsh in northern England, and the terrible events that were to alter his life forever. The author who is a writer, playwright, literary critic and broadcaster has also written "I'm the King of the Castle" amd "Strange Meeting".

About this title

From the Back Cover:

What real reader does not yearn, somewhere in the recesses of his or her heart, for a really literate, first-class thriller -- one that chills the body, but warms the soul with plot, perception, and language at once astute and vivid? In other words, a ghost story written by Jane Austen?

Alas, we cannot give you Austen, but Susan Hill's remarkable Woman in Black comes as close as our era can provide. 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 Drabow 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' scream in the fog, and most dreadfully -- and for Kipps most tragically -- The Woman in Black.

The Woman in Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine-tingler -- proof positive that this neglected genre, the ghost story, isn't dead after all.

From the Inside Flap:

Set in Victorian England, Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor in London, is summoned to Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, and to sort through her papers before returning to London. It is here that Kipps first sees the woman in black and begins to gain an impression of the mystery surrounding her. From the funeral he travels to Eel Marsh House and sees the woman again, plus he also hears the terrifying sounds of adult and child passengers sinking into the quicksand on a pony and trap.

Despite Kipps?s experiences he resolves to spend the night at the house and fulfil hi professional duty.It is this night at Eel Marsh House that contains the greatest horror for Kipps. Rescued by Mr Daily, a friend he met on the train, Kipps discovers the reasons behind the hauntings at Eel Marsh House. The book ends with tragedy, with the woman in black exacting a final, terrible revenge.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ad Wes Lon Education
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0582026601
• ISBN 13: 9780582026605
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 164