With the new film adaption starring Daniel Radcliffe (this is his first post-Harry Potter film) in theaters, I thought I’d check out The Woman in Black from the library before embarking to the movie theater. It is a short horror novel by Susan Hill, less than 200 pages, and published in  1983.

The book opens up on Christmas Eve. Arthur Kipps’s stepchildren are telling each other ghost stories, trying to outscare one another. Soon enough, they turn to him and prompt him to tell them one. Hesitant at first, Arthur gives in to writing out his tale, which haunts the rest of the novel’s pages: years ago, as a young attorney engaged to his sweetheart Stella, he was sent by his firm to attend the funeral of an isolated, eccentric widow named Mrs. Drablow, who has left behind a property known as Eel Marsh House with legal affairs and papers to be cleared of. During the funeral, he sees a woman dressed in a funeral gown. She was quite a sight, a woman who could have once been a beauty but was now wasted away, for she looked a little more than just a skeleton.

During his stay, Arthur continues to see the mysterious woman. Evenings are passed by with strange noises, papers contain strange clues and angry words, a pristine nursery has a rocking chair that rocks on its own, and the screams of a drowning child can be heard. Eventually, Arthur learns that whenever the woman in black is seen, a child dies.

There is no gore among the pages, but the prose is classic gothic horror, saturated with a haunting atmosphere, whispers and secrets from the local community, and a ghost whose vengeance cannot be satiated. Right up to the very last page, lyrical words is all it takes to keep one sitting on the edge of the seat. I actually gasped upon reading the final page and wanted to weep for Arthur. No, Arthur does not die, but you would have to read the book to find out what happens, as I have heard that the film is not a complete page-by-page rendition of the original source. However, this is a well-written tale that I’m sure would have named Arthur the winner of his stepchildren’s ghost story contest.

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