Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.
Susan Hill is an award-winning English author that has written fiction and nonfiction. Born in 1942 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, she attended Scarborough Convent School, Barr’s Hill, and King’s College London. Barr’s Hill was also home to Jennifer Page, who eventually became Millennium Dome’s first Chief Executive.
Get notified when Susan Hill releases a new book at BookNotification.com.
Order of Simon Serrailler Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Various Haunts of Men | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Pure in Heart | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Risk of Darkness | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Vows of Silence | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Shadows in the Street | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Betrayal of Trust | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
7 | A Question of Identity | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
8 | A Breach of Security (Short Story) | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Soul of Discretion | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Hero (Short Story) | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Old Haunts (Short Story) | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Comforts of Home | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Revenge (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
14 | The Benefit of Hindsight | 2020 | Description / Buy | |
15 | A Change of Circumstance | 2021 | Description / Buy |
Order of The Woman in Black Series with Martyn Waites
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story (Short Story) | 1983 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Woman in Black: Angel of Death | 2013 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Standalone Novels
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Enclosure | 1961 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Do Me a Favour | 1963 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Gentleman and Ladies | 1968 | Description / Buy | |
4 | A Change for the Better | 1969 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Strange Meeting | 1971 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Bird of Night | 1973 | Description / Buy | |
7 | In the Springtime of the Year | 1975 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Air and Angels | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Mist in the Mirror | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Mrs. deWinter | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Service of Clouds | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Man in the Picture | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
13 | The Beacon | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
14 | The Battle for Gullywith | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
15 | The Small Hand | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
16 | A Kind Man | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
17 | Dolly Signed | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
18 | From the Heart | 2017 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Short Stories/Novellas
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Custodian (Short Story) | 1972 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Albatross (Short Story) | 1973 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Elephant Man (Short Story) | 1975 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Crystal (Short Story) | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Black Sheep (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Hunger (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Printer's Devil Court (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Irish Twins (Short Story) | 2014 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Short Story Collections
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Albatross and Other Stories | 1971 | Description / Buy | |
2 | A Bit of Singing and Dancing and Other Stories | 1973 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Cold Country, And Other Plays For Radio | 1975 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Stories from Codling Village (Short Story) | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Christmas Collection (Short Story) | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Listening to the Orchestra (Short Story) | 1996 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read and Other Stories | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Farthing House and Other Stories | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Travelling Bag and Other Ghostly Stories | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Walter & Florence and Other Stories | 2020 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Children's Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | I'm The King Of The Castle | 1970 | Description / Buy | |
2 | The Glass Angels | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Friends Next Door | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
4 | A Very Special Birthday (Short Story) | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 2021 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Picture Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | One Night at a Time / Go Away Bad Dreams (Short Story) | 1985 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Mother's Magic | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Can It Be True? (Short Story) | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
4 | Suzy's Shoes | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
5 | I Won't Go There Again | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Septimus Honeydew (Short Story) | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Pirate Poll (Short Story) | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Beware Beware (Short Story) | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
9 | King of Kings (Short Story) | 1993 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Hill Non-Fiction Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Magic Apple Tree | 1982 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Through the Kitchen Window | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Through the Garden Gate | 1986 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Lighting of the Lamps | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
5 | Shakespeare Country | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
6 | Lanterns Across the Snow | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Spirit of the Cotswolds | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Family | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
9 | The Spirit of Britain | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
10 | Reflections from a Garden | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
11 | Howards End is on the Landing | 2009 | Description / Buy |
Susan Hill Anthologies
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best for Winter | 1979 | Description / Buy | |
2 | New Stories 5: An Arts Council Anthology | 1980 | Description / Buy | |
3 | People | 1983 | Description / Buy | |
4 | The Parchment Moon | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
5 | The Random House Book of Ghost Stories | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Walker Book of Ghost Stories | 1990 | Description / Buy | |
7 | The Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories | 1992 | Description / Buy | |
8 | Funny Stories | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Contemporary Women's Short Stories | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
10 | The Second Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
11 | A Distant Cry | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
12 | The Library Book | 2012 | Description / Buy |
Susan was still in her first year of university when she published ‘The Enclosure,’ her first novel, which some publications criticized for its sexual content. But the book did not define her, and she wrote other stories in the years that followed, including ‘Gentleman and Ladies’ and ‘The Woman in Black,’ which received a live-action movie adaptation.
According to the author, when she began writing her first novel at the age of 16, she knew nothing. Fortunately, she started reading at the age of four, and the texts she encountered during her childhood taught her what she needed to know.
Susan learned to write by sitting down and writing. She quickly realized that the industry had very few rules if any. Her first book made a much bigger splash than she expected because of the era in which it was published. By 1960, many people had started dismissing Susan as the teenager that wrote about sex in her books.
Her school eventually expelled Susan. As an adult, she came to realize that the event wasn’t anything special and that every book she wrote was an opportunity to start over. But as a younger woman, she didn’t know any better.
Her second novel was a failure, and it showed her that earning a living as an author wouldn’t be easy. Things changed later on, but it took decades for Susan to secure substantial security as a writer.
As an established author, Susan has come to the understanding that she writes for herself. Other people matter, especially peers in the industry whose opinion she values, not to mention her readers. But her opinion is equally important. She writes to please herself, and she has to come first.
The author writes instinctively. She doesn’t plan. Instead, Susan figures things out as she goes. She jots a few ideas down, including names and a few suggestions for scenes. Initially, she wrote by hand with a fountain pen.
The physical act of writing was challenging, which is why she avoided revisions and re-writing were possible.
Laptops made the task more manageable. Nonetheless, the author tends to restrict her manuscripts to a single draft.
She encourages authors to realize that writing doesn’t have rules, and you can basically do what you want.
Susan Hill Awards
Susan won the Whitbread Prize in 1972. She also received a Man Booker Prize nomination in that same year.
Susan Hill Books Into Movies
The Woman in Black received a television adaptation in 1989 and a movie adaptation (starring Daniel Radcliffe) in 2012.
Best Susan Hill Books
The author was married to Stanley Wells. They had three daughters, one of whom died at five weeks. Her relationship with Stanley became muddled when she left him for Barbara Machin and then Rhona Cameron, though she assured the public that her marriage was still intact. Susan Hill’s best books include:
The Woman in Black: Author Kipps was a young solicitor looking to settle Mrs. Alice Drablow’s affairs. Kipps did not expect much from the routine formalities on the isolated causeway.
He had no idea that a nightmare awaited him on the English moor until rocking chairs and the screams of children started to haunt the halls of the house. If Kipps isn’t careful, he may fall prey to The Woman in Black.
The Various Haunts of Men: For Freya Graffham, life in the Cathedral town of Lafferton was pleasant enough. Her community was peaceful, and she was a perfect fit for the local force. Additionally, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler.
But then she stumbled upon a missing persons report she could not ignore, and everything changed. People in Freya’s new home started disappearing, confirming her concern that the missing persons report wasn’t an isolated incident.
Now, her search for answers has begun in earnest. She has the backing of the local police force. This has created an opportunity for Freya to work in close proximity with Serrailler.
When Does The Next Susan Hill book come out?
Susan Hill doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is A Change of Circumstance and was released on October, 29th 2021. It is the newest book in the Simon Serrailler Series.