Globe Spotlights – The Woman in Black
Classic Corner
There is a shelf on the Trolley of Temptation that hosts those books that I have read but which I keep reading every so often. Usually when I have a reading slump or a time where i just need to cleanse that reading palette and read something I know I am going to love and that will take me back to a reading experience I will never forget. That moment I read it for the first time.
I always chuckle at the fact there is also a book called the Women in White (Wilkie Collins) and this one and I hear people get them mixed up or confused. They could not be more different! This one is scary and creepy and supernatural. I have watched the two TV/film adaptations, seen the play and read the book and it’s a story that does setting and location like no other.
Location – Somewhere in England, near to the moors and marshlands
House – Eel Marsh House on an island where you have to cross a causeway to get to it. That means if the tide comes in, you can get trapped.
Film versions – The 1989 version is by far the best I think – although I did like the Daniel Radcliffe one! The exterior shots of Eel Marsh House were filmed at Cotterstock Hall near Oundle in central England. The fictional Nine Lives Causeway leading to it was filmed at Osea Island in Essex. The village of Crythin Gifford was filmed at Halton Gill, north of Settle in the Yorkshire Dales.
This novel is very clever on so many levels. The mystery of what happened to Alice Drablow becomes clear as the novel progresses. It’s a simple tale at first of a solicitor. Arthur Kipps going out to her house when she dies to tidy up her affairs. But it is far from simple!
From the moment he arrives in the village, he sees that all the people there are still fearful of Alice Drablow and Eel Marsh House. There are legends, ghost stories and tales to chill the hairs on the back of your neck. The sense of foreboding is just superb. When Arthur is examining inside the house, the atmosphere is heavy and dark. Blimey even the dog that keeps him company is called Spider! Things move, there are strange noises and the mist that surrounds the house….
At the funeral, one of the most chilling times in the book is when Arthur sees a woman shrouded in black. He sees her a few times during the novel infact and on the marshes next to the house. Who is she and what does she want? He becomes haunted by her, obsessed with her and then she appears outside of his office back in London….
The ending is superb but chilling and I remember reading this for the first time and being scared yet admiring the story and what it meant for the characters I had come to fear and admire. It’s a brilliant read – a study in foreboding, isolation, building atmosphere and more.
Susan x
