A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
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 . . .
Review:
I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I first read “The Haunting of Hill House” in high school and was a huge fan. I’ve always loved creepy haunted house stories, and that one grabbed a piece of my teenage heart and never let go. I wasn’t impressed when I saw the movie adaptation with Luke Wilson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Lily Taylor in the late 1990s. Then came Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series, and while it differed significantly from the book, it was a nice and creepy extension of the Hill House legacy. I am happy to report that this book also earned a spot in that legacy. Elizabeth Hand successfully brings the reader back into the world of Hill House, a place shrouded in darkness and haunted by a tragic history.
This story follows Holly Sherwin, a struggling playwright who finally receives a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton. While out for a morning drive while on vacation, Holly stumbles across Hill House, a huge and slightly creepy mansion hidden away outside a small town. Something draws Holly to this house, and she gets the idea that it would be the perfect setting for her and the actors she has hired to workshop her new play. She wants them all to shack up in the mansion for a few weeks and put the finishing touches on the script. She convinces her girlfriend Nisa that this is a great idea, and it’s not long before the two of them move in along with their friend Stevie, who will do the sound design and will act as one of the characters in the play, and Amanda, a well-known actress who has agreed to star as the witch in the play.
From the moment Holly steps foot inside Hill House, the atmosphere becomes palpable. Hand’s descriptive prose creates a sense of unease. It’s not long before our characters hear strange voices carrying on conversations at night, strange smells, and mysterious sounds that echo down the halls. Time itself seems to have a mind of its own, twisting and bending within the walls of the house.
As the characters settle in, they find themselves growing suspicious of one another as the malevolent force of Hill House begins to break them down. Despite warnings from the housekeepers and a nearby neighbor that they need to leave before the house attacks, the four refuse to go, and it’s when a severe storm sets in that we, the readers, know things are about to get extra creepy.
While the atmosphere and tension were excellent – and reminiscent of the original book – I couldn’t help but wish for more ghostly apparitions and eerie occurrences. Mike Flanagan’s version was absolutely chilling, and I went into this book expecting that same level of dread and eerieness. I had to remind myself that many of the scares in his series were visual – things happening in the background – and you can’t do those things in a book.
I think one of the creepiest elements of the book was the presence of the hare – this huge, black rabbit that would randomly show up and smile; it was both fun and creepy and added an extra layer of mystery to the already unsettling atmosphere. Additionally, the figure that Holly sees in the forest is terrifying – I definitely wanted a little more of that.
The characters themselves are well-developed and layered, each with their own personal demons. Hand skillfully intertwines their individual stories with the overarching narrative, creating a compelling and intricate web of relationships. As the evil within Hill House begins to take hold, the tensions between the characters escalate, leading to startling revelations and heartbreaking moments.
This is a gripping and eerie novel that will satisfy fans of the original book by Shirley Jackson. If you go in after only watching the Netflix series, you may be disappointed. As I mentioned earlier, the TV series was able to add several creepy and downright scary moments by showcasing hidden things in the shadows that you can’t do in a book. The book definitely feels like the original in that the hauntings are mostly implied, which leaves you wondering how much is real and how much is happening in the person’s head.
