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Elizabeth Hand’s Next Novel Is Inspired by The Haunting of Hill House

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Published on August 11, 2022

Photo by Norm Walters
Elizabeth Hand
Photo by Norm Walters

For the first time, the family of Shirley Jackson has authorized a novel based on the beloved author’s work. Next year, Mulholland Books will publish Elizabeth Hand’s A Haunting on the Hill, which is inspired by the classic The Haunting of Hill House.

Hand is the author of more than fifteen books that range from science fiction to thriller to young adult. Her most recent  novel, Hokuloa Road, was just reviewed in the New York Times, who called it “brilliantly atmospheric.” More relevantly to this new book, Hand is the winner of three Shirley Jackson Awards; she won the inaugural award for her criminally under-read Generation Loss, the first of a series of crime novels about punk photographer and absolute icon Cass Neary.

Hand has also won four World Fantasy Awards and two Nebulas. In a statement, she said, “I started reading Shirley Jackson’s work when I was 9 years old and have never stopped returning to it. … Her mordant wit and insight into the darkest chambers of the human heart shaped me, first as a reader and then as a writer. I am thrilled and honored beyond measure to have this opportunity to revisit Hill House, and I hope that others who love Jackson’s work as much as I do will accompany me on that journey.”

Jackson’s work has been adapted in other forms, including two movies called simply The Haunting. Most recently, The Haunting of Hill House was adapted into Mike Flanagan’s critically adored Netflix series, which kicked off a string of haunted and haunting stories for the creator and streaming platform.

The Washington Post reports that A Haunting on the Hill will “center on a theater troupe that uses Hill House to rehearse a modernist staging of the 17th century play The Witch of Edmonton.” This is not Hand’s first foray into a story that steps into the theater (Illyria) nor toward an eerie house (Wylding Hall). She’s a masterful storyteller, and this team-up of inspiration and artist is incredibly exciting. A Haunting on the Hill can’t get here soon enough, but it’s expected to publish in fall of 2023.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Molly Templeton

Author

Molly Templeton has been a bookseller, an alt-weekly editor, and assistant managing editor of Tor.com, among other things. She now lives and writes in Oregon, and spends as much time as possible in the woods.
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