The woman in black door Susan Hill

Susan Hill, The Woman In Black, book report.

Summary:

The story begins on a Christmas Eve. The main character, Arthur Kipps, is spending it with his family. When the kids start to tell ghost stories and ask Arthur to tell one too he says he doesn’t know any. The kids don’t believe it and keep pushing Arthur to tell one. He kind of freaks out and goes outside for a walk. Outside he thinks of a story that he does know, one that has happened to himself when he was younger and he decides to tell it. Not that evening, but he will write it down, as a book. Then his story begins.
Arthur Kipps is a young accountant living in London and happily engaged with Stella, when his boss, Mr. Bentley, sends him out to Crythin Gifford, to handle the case of the late Mrs. Drablow. In the train to Crythin Gifford he meets a man called Samuel Daily, one of the rich landowners around Crythin and during their trip they talk a bit. At the end of their journey Daily gives Kipps his card.
Kipps arrives at Crythin Gifford and goes to his hotel. He sleeps very well and is looking forward to spending a few more days in Crythin. The next morning he goes to Mrs. Drablow’s funeral together with Mr. Jerome, the agent in Crythin. When they arrive they seem to be the only ones there, which surprised Kipps because he at least would’ve expected some family. Then suddenly Kipps sees a woman, all dressed in black. When Kipps asks Mr. Jerome who she is, he faints and nothing else is said.
When he arrives at the hotel again he prepares himself to go to Eel Marsh, Mrs. Drablow’s house, later that afternoon to dot some of the work that he’s supposed to do. A certain Mr. Keckwick will take him there and return later to pick him up again. Fascinated by the house and it’s surroundings Kipps decides that he will take some bags with clothes and some food with him tomorrow, so that he can spend some nights over at Eel Marsh and that way Keckwick doesn’t have to drive to and fro. After Keckwick had left Kipps goes out for a walk around the house, when he sees the woman in black again. He tries to reach her but she runs away and Kipps gives up. He went back to the house.
Because there’s too little time left to do some useful work Kipps decides to leave Eel Marsh for that day and walk back to Crythin. That way he’d save Keckwick a ride up and down and he could get some fresh air. When he’s outside on the marshes a sudden fog comes up. It gets to thick to see anything and suddenly Kipps hears the sound of a pony and trap. He thinks it’s Keckwick and starts walking towards the sound. Then he realizes the sound isn’t coming from a particular place. Suddenly he hears the whinnying and screaming of a drowning pony and child. Terrified by this sound Kipps finds his way back to Eel Marsh and waits there. He falls asleep and is woken 7 hours later by the sound of a bell. The doorbell. Keckwick is outside and Kipps realizes it wasn’t Keckwick riding drowning pony and trap earlier that afternoon. They go back to the hotel and Kipps doesn’t sleep as comfortable as he did the night before.
The next day Kipps goes for a cycle trip around the countryside and when he gets back at the hotel he walks in to Mr. Daily who invites him for dinner at his house that night. Daily asks Kipps about Eel Marsh and Kipps tells him he’s planning to spend some nights there. Daily doesn’t stop him but isn’t so keen on it either and offers Kipps to take a dog with him called Spider. Kipps accepts the offer and so he’s off to Eel Marsh the next day, accompanied by Spider. He works a bit that day and then goes to sleep. That night a regularly bumping sound wakes him up. He goes out on the passage in the house and towards the sound. The sound comes from a closed door and Kipps goes back to bed.
The next morning Arthur cycles back to Crythin to have his food stock refilled and then returns to Eel Marsh again. He reads some letters that he had found and goes to bed later that day. Also that night he’s awoken by the same noise as the night before. He goes straight to the locked door and the sound continues. He tries to open the door but it won’t give in. He goes outside because he remembered he had seen an axe and wants to get it and break in in the room, to identify the sound. When he’s outside to get the axe he hears that sound again: a pony and trap with a child, drowning. He realizes now this has something to do with ghosts, because there isn’t anyone around that night.
Kipps goes back into the house again and upstairs, to the locked door. Now the door isn’t locked anymore but the sound is still going on. Kipps enters the room and sees where the sound is coming from: a rocking chair, with nobody in it. The chair stops rocking and Kipps explores the room. It’s a nursery and it seems to be completely intact.
That night, Kipps again is awoken, this time by Spider who wants to go out. When they’re outside he hears a sharp whistle. Spider rushes to where the noise is coming from and runs straight into the marsh. Kipps sees the dog drowning and runs toward her and tries to save her. After a long hard struggle he manages to save her and they stumble back towards the house. A few yards away from the house Kipps sees the woman in black in front of the nursery window. As he tries to reach the grass in front of the house, Kipps hears a sound: the sound of a pony and trap.
The next thing he knew he was back in Eel Marsh again and Samuel Daily was there with him. Daily had come to pick him up (with a pony and trap, which explained the sound he’d heard) because he was concerned about him. Kipps goes upstairs to pack his bags and he visits the nursery once again. I t was now in a state of disorder.
Kipps goes to Daily’s house where he stays a while and finally gets to hear the full story on the woman in black. The most shocking part was that, whenever someone had seen the woman in a black, an innocent child died.
The day he was planning to return to London he gets sick. He stays a few more days and then gets a visit from Stella, his fiancée. The next day they finally go home and within a few weeks they were married. More than a year after their marriage Stella gave birth to their son: Joseph Arthur Samuel. Another year after that on a peaceful Sunday afternoon they went to a park. Stella and Joseph go on a pony and trap ride. At the moment Stella and Joseph are in the trap Kipps sees the woman in black. He’s somewhat paralysed and then he sees Stella and his son come back from the pony trap ride. They were almost back but then the pony took off and ran between the trees, out of control. The trap collided with one of the trees and Joseph was dead. 10 months later Stella also died from her injuries.

My opinion.

When I first began to read the book I had some trouble with the long sentences, but as I kept on reading it seemed to go easier. Either the sentences became shorter or I just got used to it.
At first I found the book a bit boring, also because of the long sentences, but later on it got more interesting. The story was quite good, but I wouldn’t call it ‘heartstoppingly chilling’ as is quoted on the back of the book.