The Small Hand - Hardcover

Susan Hill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846682363 ISBN 13: 9781846682360

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd, 2010

Synopsis

Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer's evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. Intrigued by the encounter, he determines to learn more, and discovers that the owner's grandson had drowned tragically many years before. At first unperturbed by the odd experience, Snow begins to be plagued by haunting dreams, panic attacks, and more frequent visits from the small hand which become increasingly threatening and sinister ...

About this title

About the Author

Susan Hill is the winner of numerous literary prizes including the Somerset Maugham and Whitbread Awards. Her literary memoir, Howards End is on the Landing and the ghost story The Man in the Picture are both published by Profile, and she is the author of a highly successful crime series (Chatto & Windus). The Woman in Black has been running in the West End for twenty years.

Review

Superior chills from the author of The Woman in Black * Woman & Home * A distinguished modern exponent of the genre ... The entire narrative unrolls like a carpet ... This beautifully written novel may be short, but not one word is wasted ... The sinister child, the rotting mansion, the monastery and the old books are of course familiar gothic props; but Susan Hill uses them to lend depth, as an expert cook uses familiar ingredients to enrich a new recipe, and draws out new flavours from them in the process ... highly recommended for a chilly autumn evening by the fire. And, as a bonus, the book has an exceptionally attractive cover * Spectator * On chilling form * Vogue * She builds suspense through easy, elegant prose ... If the proof of a good ghost story is a bad dream, this one worked for me * Intelligent Life * On top form * Good Housekeeping * Beautifully evoked ... what's most impressive is what hangs between the spare lines of Hill's precise prose ... this is a wonderful piece of storytelling that does what a good story ought to do: it keeps you guessing, pulls you in -- Jeremy Dyson * Guardian * Every bit the treat one would expect ... as ever, not a word is wasted. As seductive as it is disquieting, atmospheric and brilliantly suspenseful * The Lady * Short and crisply told ... The tension is built up gradually until it is taut and physical * Independent * Part of the fear she conjures up, then, is a sense that this could happen to anyone ... Hill's superbly crafted tale doesn't belong to a confessional age, but it does belong to an age where we are all striving for our own identity. Where we all, secretly, long for a ghost to reach out and grip us, make us real -- Lesley MacDowell * Scotsman * Precise and stylish * Big Issue * Classic * Mail on Sunday * It's hugely enjoyable and a perfect read for a couple of hours by the fireside on a dark winter's evening, and would make an ideal Christmas stocking filler * Daily Mail * Great ghostly reading leading up to Halloween * Woman's Day Australia * Masterfully done ... subtle, elegant * The Times * A beautiful volume housing a chilling take on the good old-fashioned ghost story * Red * Restrained, spare, elegant prose with all the necessary accoutrements ... most definitely suited to reading beside a roaring fire while fingering the thick cream pages of this well-produced hardback -- Sophia Martelli * Observer * Susan Hill is the grande dame of English supernatural fiction ... The Small Hand is another brilliant exercise in the uncanny ... Hill is a mistress of economy and timing, and although The Small Hand is only the length of a novella, it has the heft of a novel. Each phrase comes balanced on a raft of implication ... an elegant entertainment for a winter's night -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times * Hill writes with an understated style that gives the story plenty of conviction and although it is set in the present day, a dusty, timeless pall lies over it -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express * Gripping from the first page * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * Wonderfully old fashioned ... Hill is a master of the art of suspense, subtly increasing the creepiness until it is at fever pitch. Eerie and compelling from start to finish * Attitude * No one chills the heart like Susan Hill * Daily Telegraph * Hill knows how to give readers a good fright * Instyle Magazine, Australia * A chilling and beguiling small treasure of a story * Herald on Sunday, NZ * This supernatural chiller is gripping and unnerving, the sort of book you devour in one sitting * The Age, Australia * Beautiful * Sydney Morning Herald * A chilling meditation on how long-buried secrets can rise to haunt us, this story won't leave you in a hurry * Who Weekly Magazine, Australia * There is a thrilling building terror in this elegant but restrained ghost story * Herald Sun, Australia * A twisting psychological drama where disaster looms at every turn * Daily Telegraph, Sydney * A beautifully written, subtle tale with echoes of M R James * Country Life *

Edition details

• Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1846682363
• ISBN 13: 9781846682360
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 167