Latest News

February 2005

This week's question …

I am currently studying the woman in black for my A Levels at school, as part of an exercise we were asked what time-period would we put the narrative into. I was just wondering if there was a specific time period related to the narrative.

This comes from Michelle Perry.. I have had a good many similar e-mails so it is obviously a question a lot of you are tackling.

The answer is that there is no exact set-in-stone date for the setting of THE WOMAN IN BLACK.. but if you look at various ‘clues’ through the book you would probably guess at a setting somewhere between 1910 and 1929 and as it is not set during the FIRST WORLD WAR I think 1920 is probably a reasonable date but you must make your own decision, as always, based on evidence you find within the text. If I can stress one thing too much it is THE TEXT. Not the author.

Students

Masses of e-mails from GCSE and A level students at the moment.. about THE WOMAN IN BLACK and I`M THE KING OF THE CASTLE in the main.. I am going to put up a Question of the week on the website to try and answer some of the most frequent queries.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK
The play goes from strength to strength in London. We had the best autumn ever and on it rolls into another year. It had a great run in Tokyo, still plays after 10 years in Mexico city, and is set for a tour of the Far East, Australia and New Zealand later this year. There will also be productions in Czechoslovakia and San Francisco so if any of you are likely to be in those places…..


Crime trilogy

THE PURE IN HEART, the second in my Simon Serrailler sequence of crime novels, comes out in June, on the same day as the paperback of the first volume THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN… lots of posters all over railway stations and hoardings will appear and the publishers are sending out teaser postcards showing a pretty Cathedral town set among rolling English hills and green fields, with X marking the spot where the serial killer has struck !
If you`d like to pre order signed copies of either book, which will be sent post free, please do so to crime@susan-hill.com and of course I`m happy to write any particular personal dedication you may like to have, perhaps for a gift.

New work

I am half way through book three, THE RISK OF DARKNESS…in the crime trilogy. I am also well into a new ghost story.. a novella. Not saying any more !

Film

The saga of the major feature film of THE WOMAN IN BLACK goes on and on but at the moment things look promising again with a link-up promised between a major Hollywood company, and one in the UK.. But if I had held my breath on this one, I wouldn`t be writing this newsletter, it`s been in negotiation for so long.

This is a hard-working time for students.Please keep your e-mails with questions coming but – and this is really important – please do not ask me to do your work/write your essays for you. That is for you to do and your school teacher to give you the proper guidance on. Ask them. They do get paid for it

And finally

Don't forget the essay competition. You could win a really good moneybook prize so send in your entries.

Good wishes

SUSAN HILL