Happy Halloween, to those of you lucky enough to live in countries that celebrate Halloween, and condolences to those who don’t (like myself). It’s not Monday, but I’m here with a recommendation all the same.
So I decided to take a brief break from dying (I’m being a tad overdramatic but I have had a flu-like thing for like 7 weeks now and it’s getting a bit ridiculous) and writing about cancer and the immune system to mention one of my favourite horror classics, The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill.
Firstly, I love female horror writers, and I believe Susan Hill is known as one of the best horror writers around. This is the only one of her books I’ve read but I really enjoyed it and it’s pretty creepy.
“For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.”
The Woman in Black is the story of a young lawyer sent to sort out the estate of a woman after she dies, and the whole lawyering and paperwork isn’t the scary part. While staying in her creepy house surrounded by creepy and pretty much inpenetrable marshes, he (and a little dog) tries to get his paperwork done, while a rather unfriendly ghost keeps constantly distracting him by constantly making him nearly pee his pants. So naturally, he seeks to uncover the mystery of the ghost’s life and death.
If you like Victorian-era horrors about people (and little dogs) alone in creepy old houses surrounded by marshes and fog, then this book is for you. It is quite short but very enjoyable.
Also this beautiful edition is from Allen & Unwin, who are an Australian publisher. But if you aren’t in Australia you can get it from The Book Depository, or Amazon.
Read the Bloody Book 