Dame Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black is a 1983 British novella which narrates the supernatural experiences of the novella’s protagonist, Arthur Kipps, during his time spent working as a solicitor within the fictional town of Crythin Gifford. Set predominantly in the Edwardian era, Arthur’s assignment to the town requires him to visit the isolated home of a deceased client, Alice Drablow, to manage her estate and affairs. It is during his time at the remote Eel Marsh House that he is forced to both confront the home’s regular paranormal occurrences (including the eponymous spectre of a woman dressed in black) and unearth the secrets contained within. Written in first-person perspective, the events of the novella are recounted by Arthur retrospectively, having been urged by his family to share his ‘ghost story’ on Christmas Eve, years in the future.
At the time of The Woman in Black’s publishing, Hill was already well-established as a successful author, with her career in novel-writing beginning when she was only eighteen and spanning numerous genres, as well as including plays and non-fiction. She has previously stated her dislike of being ‘typecast’ as a writer of any specific genre, however she is most well-known for The Woman in Black, in addition to The Mist in the Mirror, and I'm the King of the Castle, all of which contain Gothic and Horror elements.
The Woman in Black is heavily inspired by the tradition of Gothic literature and widely accepted as a fundamental text within the contemporary Gothic canon. Hill has discussed that when writing the novella, the key features that she wanted to incorporate were atmosphere, an isolated location, and a ghost which had a specific reason or motivation for haunting the setting. She has previously stated that the work is particularly inspired by authors Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, another work which subscribes to the Victorian tradition of ghost stories on Christmas. Likewise, and for the same reason, there have often been comparisons drawn between The Woman in Black and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Hill has also made other links to Dickens’ work when speaking on the process of crafting the novella, suggesting that an abandoned nursery which features within the story is an element that she associates with the character of Ms Havisham, from Great Expectations.
In addition to being, fundamentally, a ghost story, The Woman in Black is also a narrative concerned with the impact of loss, shame, and secrets. There is an implicit discussion to be had during the novella on the role of societal expectations surrounding gender, and the often-tragic consequences of the shame that is bestowed on those women who fail to meet these expectations, illustrated by the character of Jennet Humfrye. By its conclusion, not only have readers learnt of the significant bereavement experienced by its protagonist, but they also learn how the kind of anguish shaped by maternal bereavement has manifested in the supernatural occurrences that are plaguing Eel Marsh House, and the inhabitants of Crythin Gifford more widely. There have been some suggestions by literary critics that this theme’s inclusion within the novella is the product of Hill’s own experiences, with one of her own daughters dying in infancy, however Hill has repeatedly denied that this is the case.
The novella has achieved wide-reaching and long-lasting success. There have been several well-received television adaptations of the story throughout the years, as well as a BBC Radio production, and a commercially successful film adaptation starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2012. The stage play adaptation of the novella, which opened in London’s West End in 1989, is the second longest-running non-musical production in West End history, being performed over thirteen thousand times before its final performance in 2023. What’s more, the novella’s regular inclusion within secondary school curriculums across the UK, and its place as a set study text on two GCSE exam boards, means that its recognition within the contemporary Gothic canon, and its familiarity within the public at large, continues to this day.
