‘The Small Hand’ by Susan Hill

My Review (4 stars out of 5)

Antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow gets lost on his way home from seeing a client. Discovering an apparently abandoned Edwardian house, he has a look around. In doing so, he experiences a strange sensation – the feeling of a child’s hand slipping into his own. Following a series of panic attacks and bad dreams that seem related to the incident, Snow decides to explore the house again…

I read some of Susan Hill’s stories many years ago so was looking forward to this novel. The book is a relatively short read, it’s chapters and general writing style also being of the succinct variety – that is to say, we don’t get much in the way of descriptions. Some reviewers have compared the writing to that of MR James. Having read many of that great man’s stories, I have to say there is no resemblance whatsoever. However, while the story isn’t exactly scary, it is most definitely creepy, and the ending is interesting, if not quite what I expected.

NB I also watched the trailer for the 2019 drama based on the book. Not impressed.

Back to the Blog