She attendedScarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved toCoventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factories. Hill states[5] that she attended a girls'grammar school,Barr's Hill. Her fellow pupils includedJennifer Page, the first Chief Executive of theMillennium Dome. At Barrs Hill, she tookA levels in English, French, History, and Latin, proceeding to an English degree atKing's College London.[6]
By the time she took her A levels, she had already written her first novel,The Enclosure, which was published byHutchinson in her first year at university.[7]
In the 1990s, Hill founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books,[9] which has published two Simon Serrailler short stories andThe Magic Apple Tree, all by Susan Hill, as well asThe Dream Coat byAdèle Geras,Colouring In byAngela Huth, andCounting My Chickens byDeborah Devonshire.[10]
Hill's novels are written in a descriptivegothic style, especially her ghost storyThe Woman in Black, published in 1983. She has expressed an interest in the traditional English ghost story, which relies on suspense and atmosphere to create its impact, similar to the classic ghost stories byM. R. James andDaphne du Maurier.[11] The novel was turned intoa play in 1987 which ran until 2022 in theWest End of London. It was also made into atelevision film in 1989, and afilm byHammer Film Productions in 2012; the latter, starringDaniel Radcliffe, was the most successful British horror film in 32 years as of 2013.[12] Hill wrote another ghost story with similar ingredients,The Mist in the Mirror in 1992, and wrote the screenplay for a sequel to The Woman in Black film in 2012, that film being released in 2014.
Hill was engaged to David Lepine, organist atCoventry Cathedral, but he died of a heart attack in 1972.[13] In 1975, she married Shakespeare scholar and professorStanley Wells, and they moved toStratford-upon-Avon. Their first daughter, author Jessica Ruston, was born in 1977, and their third daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. A middle daughter, Imogen, was born prematurely, and died at the age of five weeks.[12] Wells was chairperson of the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust for 20 years. The couple later lived in Chipping Campden.[12]
In 2013, it was reported that Hill had left her husband and moved in with Barbara Machin, creator ofWaking the Dead, who adapted Hill's crime fiction novels featuring detective Simon Serrailler and Hill'sThe Small Hand.[12] However, she said that she was "still married" to Wells in 2015.[14] In 2016, Machin left Hill for comedianRhona Cameron.[citation needed]
The Cold Country and Other Plays for Radio (includesThe End of Summer,Lizard in the Grass,Consider the Lilies,Strip Jack Naked); London, BBC Publications, 1975.
Lizard in the Grass, broadcast 1971; produced Edinburgh, 1988
On the Face of It, broadcast 1975; published inAct 1, edited by David Self and Ray Speakman, London, Hutchinson, 1979
The Ramshackle Company (for children); produced London, 1981
^"Biography (part 2)". susan-hill.com. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved10 March 2013.
^Freeman, Hadley (18 October 2003)."Cotswold chameleon".The Guardian (UK). Guardian News and Media Ltd.Archived from the original on 24 March 2005. Retrieved20 March 2008.
