The Woman in Black - summary

The Woman in Black is a ghost story by Susan Hill, in

which Arthur Kipps relates his haunting experiences at
Eel Marsh House.

The tale begins on Christmas Eve, when Arthur's step-

children invite him to tell a ghost story. Arthur is too
disturbed by his memories to share his story aloud, so
he writes it down.

In his story, a young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is

sent to settle the affairs of Alice Drablow. He sees a
woman dressed in black at her funeral, though
apparently no one else does. At Eel Marsh House, a
house beyond a causeway, Arthur is haunted by noises
and sightings of the woman. Eventually a local man,
Sam Daily, reveals the full story of how Alice Drablow's
sister, Jennet, haunts the house. He explains that a
child dies each time the woman in black is seen. At the
end of the story, Arthur sees the woman in black again
and his wife and son die in a terrible accident.

The Woman in Black is a ghost story about heartbreak

and revenge.

Christmas Eve
The story begins on Christmas Eve. Arthur Kipps is
with his wife Esme and her children. They
encourage him to join them in the tradition of
telling ghost stories. He is upset by his memories
and decides he needs to exorcise them by writing it
down.
Mrs Drablow
The young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is sent by Mr
Bentley, his employer at a firm of
lawyers, to sort the estate of Mrs Alice
Drablow. He is told to attend her
funeral and bring back all her
documents from Eel Marsh
House where she lived.
The Funeral
On the train to Crythin Gifford, Arthur
meets Samuel Daily, a local landowner,
who comments that Arthur will be one of the only
people at Mrs Drablow's funeral. This turns out to be
the case - apart from Arthur Kipps, only Mr Jerome,
Mrs Drablow's agent, attends. However, Arthur sees a
sickly-looking woman dressed in black at the church
and again at the graveyard. When he mentions her
later to Mr Jerome, the agent is visibly upset, but
denies having seen a woman.
 screaming. He is terrified by the time Keckwick
turns up.

Eel Marsh House In the nursery

After the funeral, Arthur gets a lift across the Nine No one will help Arthur clear the estate, so he
Lives Causeway to Eel Marsh House with the decides he will need
reserved caretaker, Keckwick. He turns up in a pony to stay the night there
and trap and says nothing all until he has collected
the way across the marsh. all the papers. Samuel
Daily offers him his
dog, Spider, for
A pony and trap company and Arthur
accepts.
Arthur sees the woman in
black again and starts to feel The night at Eel Marsh
very frightened. In the house he finds that Mrs House is disturbed by a regular bumping noise that
Drablow has left papers in almost every drawer and comes from behind a locked door. The next
desk. He realises that his job will take a long time evening, Arthur is sorting through papers and
and that he will need to come back the next day. He letters when the bumping starts again. He becomes
goes out to meet Keckwick and hears the noise of a increasingly afraid as he hears the pony and trap
pony and trap followed by the sound of a child and child's cry again. Back in the house, the door to
the locked room is suddenly flung open and through
it Arthur finds a nursery filled with toys and a Samuel Daily arrives at the house in the early hours
of the morning. He has been worried about Arthur.
He drives him back across the causeway and
eventually explains that
Alice Drablow had a
sister, Jennet Humfrye,
whose child died in an
accident. He says that
the sightings of the
rocking chair in motion. woman in black began
when Jennet died. He
also tells Arthur that
every time someone
sees the woman in
black their child dies in
dreadful circumstances.

Samuel Daily rescues Kipps

The Woman in Black
As he regains his strength, his beloved fiancée, and trap, which careers into a tree and crashes.
Stella, arrives and the following day they both leave Both Stella and Joseph die in the accident.
Crythin Gifford for London. Arthur feels relieved
that nothing has happened
since his sighting of the
woman - no children have
died. He feels hopeful that the
curse has ended.

Arthur finishes his story by saying that he has seen

the ghost of Jennet Humfrye and she had her
revenge. 'They have asked for my story. I have told
it. Enough.'

Stella and Arthur are soon married and have a child

together, Joseph. One day the family visit a park
where Joseph insists on riding in a pony and trap. As
his wife and child move out of sight, Arthur sees the
woman in black. She steps into the path of the pony