A Haunting on the Hill

August 1, 2023
A struggling band of hopeful artists wander into the malevolent orbit of Hill House in this contemporary restaging of Shirley Jackson's classic novel. Looking to escape New York City in the wake of the pandemic, Holly Sherwin and her partner, Nisa Macari, enjoy exploring charming "little towns long since colonized by self-styled artists and artisans." Holly, once a promising playwright, is now teaching English at a private school but has recently won a grant to produce the witchy play that may just revive her career. When she stumbles upon a creepy old mansion on an isolated hill, she knows she's found the perfect place to hole up with the small cast for two weeks of intensive rehearsals. Never mind that the owner is shady; never mind that the one neighbor threatens her with a knife as she drives by; never mind that the caretakers refuse to spend the night, ever, in the house--Holly knows it's going to galvanize her cast into the performances of their lives. When they all gather for a run-through of the script, she can feel the magic, the electricity in the air. But maybe the house's energy reflects more than the power of her words; there are also unexplained bloodstains on a tablecloth, an unearthly field of cold by the nursery, and mysterious voices at night. Not to mention the horrible black hares that keep popping up. Are they real or imaginary? Yes, and yes. While the novel doesn't draw any kind of straight line between Jackson's characters and Hand's, other than some "echoing" voices on a recording, clearly this novel is shaped around Jackson's legacy, not only in the setting, but also in the characters, specifically the relationship between Holly and Nisa. What she offers, then, is not merely retelling or update, but almost palimpsest. A timeless, gothic ode that serves up the stuff of nightmares.

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September 1, 2023

Hand's (Hokolua Road) new novel revisits the infamous haunted house from Shirley Jackson's classic The Haunting of Hill House. Holly, a struggling playwright looking to flesh out her witchy comeback, thinks that Hill House, the eerie mansion she's stumbled across in Upstate New York, would be the perfect place to finish her play. She rents the house and takes her partner Nisa, a singer; their friend, sound guy/actor Stevie; and theater legend Amanda along, despite warnings and a disturbing first visit. The house rapidly reveals itself to be a malevolent force, playing on the past traumas and insecurities of its guests with typically devastating consequences. There are interesting side characters and unexpected plotting woven into the lovely prose, along with some nice nods to Jackson's original novel and the recent Mike Flanagan Netflix miniseries that fans will appreciate, although Hand's new novel lacks the subtlety and ambiguity of the original. VERDICT Where Jackson gave glimpses of possibility, Hand purposefully pulls back the curtain on a Hill House in its full derangement, but this haunted-house tale stands on its own very spooky legs.--Lacey Tobias

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2023
In this unsettling tribute to Shirley Jackson, Hill House is hungry again. Playwright Holly Sherwin snags a coveted grant to stage her most ambitious play and identifies Hill House as the perfect place for the performance. Majestic and foreboding, the site evokes the essence of Holly's portrayal of renowned seventeenth-century witch Elizabeth Sawyer, who was said to have summoned the devil in dog form. Holly's up-and-coming singer-songwriter girlfriend, Nisa, has reworked dark folk ballads to guide the story, and acclaimed (but fading) actress Amanda Greer has signed on as Elizabeth. Holly's best friend, Stevie, rounds out the cast as Elizabeth's evil compatriot. Despite strange encounters with the house's prickly self-appointed guardian and vague warnings from its cook and caretaker, the first run-throughs of the play are magical. But it doesn't take long for the house to ferret out the cast members' vulnerabilities, and soon they're hiding their alternately alluring and torturous hauntings from each other as visceral distrust invades their retreat. Honoring Jackson's story while owning this revival, Hand deploys masterful storytelling to merge the house's familiar covetousness with witches' tales, feminist themes of repression and unfulfilled promise, and character evolution that subtly matches the house's growing malevolence. Pitch perfect.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 16, 2023
This riveting tale from Nebula Award winner Hand (Hokuloa Road) eerily, if sometimes unevenly, updates and riffs on Shirley Jackson’s classic ghost story The Haunting of Hill House. Twenty years ago, tragedy derailed Holly Sherwin’s burgeoning playwriting career, but she’s optimistic about the powerful new piece she’s drafted, so she rents the remote Hill House as a retreat and rehearsal space where she, her girlfriend, Nisa, and two others can prepare for its debut performance. Interpersonal conflicts and uncanny phenomena begin immediately, but the group insists on staying and completing the project. When a sudden storm threatens to further isolate them, they realize the old house is much more than a quirky relic of a bygone age. While the story takes its time getting underway, Hand demonstrates masterful control over the ebb and flow of tension once it does. Lush atmospheric details and sharply observed characterization abound, but occasionally overload the plot to the point that certain elements end up feeling extraneous or underutilized. Still, this chillingly mesmerizing narrative is a worthy addition to the haunted house canon. Agent: Danielle Bukowski, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from June 10, 2024

In Hand's (Hokuloa Road) hair-raising tribute to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, vacationing NYC playwright Holly Sherwin discovers an old Upstate New York mansion for rent and thinks it an ideal setting to put the final touches on her new play about Elizabeth Sawyer, a London woman hanged in 1621 for being a witch. With Holly is her songwriter girlfriend, Nisa Macari, who is adapting traditional murder ballads for the play; their friend Stevie, an actor and sound producer; and Amanda Greer, a successful but fading actress. Their initial readings of the play are thrilling, in a good way. But the knife-wielding neighbor, spooky voices, mysterious cold spots, and bloodstains--not so much. As if listeners won't be creeped out enough by the story (delivered with a growing menace that narrator Carol Monda evokes with her low, throaty voice), subtle sound effects are worked into the production so listeners hear creaks, footsteps, and scratching along with the terrified characters. VERDICT Hand's reworking of the Hill House legend is brilliant on its own, but sinister sound effects and Monda's spine-tingling narration (which includes show-stopping renditions of the spooky murder ballads) make this an absolute must-have for horror collections.--Beth Farrell

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.