The story begins when our narrator, Arthur Kipps was asked to share a ghost story by his stepchildren after the family has enjoyed their joyful festive meals on a Christmas Eve. Arthur indeed has a story, a true story, to tell but deep down in his heart he knew it is not a story to be told for casual entertainment. The horror he encountered so many years ago had already woven into his very fibres; the experience he had is an inextricable part of his past, and he decided he would write the story, a story for his eyes only. And so in the following chapters Arthur shares with his readers his true encounter with a woman dressed in black and with a pale, wasted face.

Arthur was a junior solicitor then, and he was summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly widow who lived all alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House. It was at the funeral that he first saw a mysterious woman dressed in black and her presence both intrigued and fascinated him.

The late Mrs Drablow's house is a mystery by itself, for it situated on Nine Lives Causeway and during high tide, it completely cuts off from the mainland, surrounding only by marshes and fog. During the trip to Crythin Gifford, Arthur noticed no one is willing to share information with him after they knew he was there to attend businesses for the late Mrs Drablow. And it further intrigued him when everyone is giving him a fearful look whenever he asked about a woman dressed in black.

However, Arthur is not a person who will give up whatsoever and in addition it would seem irresponsible of him to leave the work undone. For convenience and to speed up the work, he stayed in Eel Marsh House with only the companion of a terrier, loaned to him by a local named Mr Samuel Daily. Arthur knew him when they shared the same train to Crythin Gifford, and like the others Samuel is reluctant to discuss about the late Mrs Drablow or the woman dressed in black.

Over the few days during the stay in Eel Marsh House, Arthur begins to hear some unexplainable noises in a locked room. But the most terrifying of all is the sound of a pony and trap followed by the screams of a young child which he heard a few times on several occasions. Arthur soon learned about the mystery surrounding the late Mrs Drablow and Eel Marsh House after a near fatal incident, as well as the woman in black known as Jennet Humfrye.

I am afraid there is all I could say about the woman in black, but I can tell you how much I loved the overall atmosphere and setting of this story. It is so atmospheric, not to mention the plot is thick with suspense as you watch the story slowly unfold in front of you through Arthur's eyes. The Woman in Black might appear a little cliché to some, but I think it is a great old-fashioned ghost story. Vengeance, besides the horror, is the other element which surrounds the story and this is where it leads the ending to a higher climax.

I think Arthur's narration works well in this story; and personally I enjoy reading books from a first person POV because usually the emotions you feel from the characters is the strongest, which is a totally different reading experience from a third person perspective. Because I enjoyed this book so much, I bought The Man in the Picture (by the same author) which I hope would be another good read. Have you read any of these books?