NOW A MAJOR TV DRAMALate one summer evening,antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn. He stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house,and compelled by curiosity,approaches the door. Standing before the entrance,he feels the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own,'as if a child had taken hold of it'. At first he is merely puzzled by the odd incident but then begins to suffer attacks of fear and panic,and is visited by nightmares. He is determined to learn more'about the house and its once-magnificent,now overgrown garden but when he does so,he receives further,increasingly sinister,visits from the small hand.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Profile Books LtdISBN: 9781846682407Number of pages: 208Weight: 151 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 12 mmEdition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
Masterfully done...subtle,elegantOn chilling formShort and crisply told...The tension is built up gradually until it is taut and physicalBeautifully evoked...what's most impressive is what hangs between the spare lines of Hill's precise prose...this is a wonderful piece of storytelling that does what a good story ought to do: it keeps you guessing,pulls you inSuperior chills from the author of The Woman in BlackA distinguished modern exponent of the genre...The entire narrative unrolls like a carpet...This beautifully written novel may be short,but not one word is wasted...The sinister child,the rotting mansion,the monastery and the old books are of course familiar gothic props; but Susan Hill uses them to lend depth,as an expert cook uses familiar ingredients to enrich a new recipe,and draws out new flavours from them in the process...highly recommended for a chilly autumn evening by the fire. And,as a bonus,the book has an exceptionally attractive coverShe builds suspense through easy,elegant prose...If the proof of a good ghost story is a bad dream,this one worked for meOn top formEvery bit the treat one would expect...as ever,not a word is wasted. As seductive as it is disquieting,atmospheric and brilliantly suspensefulPart of the fear she conjures up,then,is a sense that this could happen to anyone...Hill's superbly crafted tale doesn't belong to a confessional age,but it does belong to an age where we are all striving for our own identity. Where we all,secretly,long for a ghost to reach out and grip us,make us realPrecise and stylishClassicIt's hugely enjoyable and a perfect read for a couple of hours by the fireside on a dark winter's evening,and would make an ideal Christmas stocking fillerGreat ghostly reading leading up to HalloweenA beautiful volume housing a chilling take on the good old-fashioned ghost storyRestrained,spare,elegant prose with all the necessary accoutrements...most definitely suited to reading beside a roaring fire while fingering the thick cream pages of this well-produced hardbackSusan Hill is the grande dame of English supernatural fiction...The Small Hand is another brilliant exercise in the uncanny...Hill is a mistress of economy and timing,and although The Small Hand is only the length of a novella,it has the heft of a novel. Each phrase comes balanced on a raft of implication...an elegant entertainment for a winter's nightHill writes with an understated style that gives the story plenty of conviction and although it is set in the present day,a dusty,timeless pall lies over itGripping from the first pageWonderfully old fashioned...Hill is a master of the art of suspense,subtly increasing the creepiness until it is at fever pitch. Eerie and compelling from start to finishNo one chills the heart like Susan HillHill knows how to give readers a good frightA chilling and beguiling small treasure of a storyThis supernatural chiller is gripping and unnerving,the sort of book you devour in one sittingA chilling meditation on how long-buried secrets can rise to haunt us,this story won't leave you in a hurryThere is a thrilling building terror in this elegant but restrained ghost storyA twisting psychological drama where disaster looms at every turnSplendidly unsettlingAs one might expect from an author with such a fine track record in the art of chilling the spine,Hill is adept at conjuring a feeling of unease from the smallest details of place and circumstance...For Hill,as for her great predecessors,M. R. James and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,the uncanny is never very far beneath the surface and the darkest place of all is the human mind. Giving a troubling,contemporary resonance to the traditional ghost story form,The Small Hand is as good as anything the author has writtenA classic ghost story with the same combination of charm and chill which characterised The Woman in Black
Susan Hill
Susan Hill,CBE is an English author of fiction and non-fiction. Her novels includeThe Woman in Black,The Mist in the Mirror,andI'm the King of the Castle.
Visit the Susan Hill author page
Kommentar