The Woman in Black is a masterpiece. It is one of my favourite novels and a massive influence on my own gothic horror mysteries.

What I particularly love about the book is the way one initially thinks that Kipps is past the horrors, and is telling the story with the safe distance of time from the tragedy. But as the telling continues, in doing so, he brings all the buried terror back, and we realise he isn't getting it out of his system, but winding himself back up by opening old wounds. He isn't past it at all. I also love the spine-freezing finale, and the terse prose in the last few words. It's perfect. This ending is literary genius, and it wouldn't work the same way on screen. This is why the 2012 film changed the ending, and actually softened it (if you think about it) compared with what is on the page. I like the film, but the novel is on another level entirely.