The Woman In Black

Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College, London. Her novels include Gentlemen and Ladies, I'm the King of the Castle (Somerset Maugham Award), Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night (Whitbread Award), A Bit of Singing and Dancing, In the Springtime of the Year, Air and Angels, The Mist in the Mirror and Mrs de Winter. The Woman in Black has been adapted for the stage and has been running to great acclaim in the West End since 1988. Her children's books include Can It Be True? (Smarties Prize), The Glass Angels and King of Kings.