Title: A HAUNTING ON THE HILL
Author: Elizabeth Hand
ISBN: 978 14087 29588
Publisher: Sphere
Pages: 325
Source: Jonathan Ball Publishers
From three-time Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, and Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever authorized novel to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House: a suspenseful, contemporary, and terrifying story of longing and isolation all its own.
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so-eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift. All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone . . .
Official Summary
15 February 2024
Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for this review copy. I do not often read Horror, but this book’s blurb sounded great and I was excited to get my hand on it. When you reach for this book you can expect a chilling and atmospheric read that pays homage to Shirley Jackson’s classic: “The Haunting of Hill House” (Sadly I have not read that – another book to add to my TBR.) while adding a contemporary twist.
The author, a three-time award winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award and Nebula Award demonstrated her mastery of the horror genre by seamlessly blending elements of psychological terror with a suspenseful narrative.
The story revolves around Holly Sherwin, a struggling playwright, who stumbles upon the ominous Hill House during a weekend getaway. Intrigued by its ornate yet crumbling Gothic architecture, Holly sees the mansion as the perfect setting to develop her play – “The Witch of Edmonton”. Despite the eerie aura surrounding the house, Holly convinces her girlfriend, Nisa, and a group of actors with their own haunted pasts to join her in renting the mansion for a month.
As the characters settle into Hill House, the author unfolds a tale of isolation, longing and supernatural disturbances. The house’s peculiarities become increasingly unsettling – from strange creatures stalking the grounds to disturbing sounds echoing through the halls. Time itself appears to wrap, creating an unsettling atmosphere that permeates every page. The author builds the tension and suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat as Holly and her friends contend not only with each other’s inner demons but also with the malicious forces that seem to have been dormant in Hill House for years. The story is captivating, painting a vivid picture of the mansion’s eerie grandeur and the psychological toll it takes on its inhabitants.
This is a brilliant story that captures your imagination while offering a terrifying narrative. The author proves why she is a force to be reckoned with in the world of speculative fiction, delivering a haunting tale that lingers in your mind long after the final page. If you are a horror fan, you do not want to miss this book.
Also by Elizabeth Hand
Waking the Moon
Like all new students, Sweeney moves with caution at Washington, D.C.’s University of the Archangel and St. John the Divine. It is a strange place of brooding shrines and gleaming towers, guarded by stone angels. For Sweeney, college is a time to experiment with sex, to explore new friendships. It is a time of freedom and discovery–until she makes the wrong discovery.
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Elizabeth Hand is the bestselling author of 20 gene-spanning novels and five collections of short fiction and essays. Her work has received multiple Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy and Nebula Awards, among other honors and several of her books have been New York Times and Washington Post Notable Books.
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