Susan Hill Books in Order

Susan Hill retells L. Frank Baum’s classic story for younger readers. Dorothy is swept from Kansas to Oz, meets the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, and heads for the Emerald City in search of a way home.

A young man is found dead in a flat above a Chinese medicine shop, and no one knows who he is. Simon Serrailler follows the faint trail into Lafferton’s drug trade, where small choices can turn lethal.

A late-career collection of short stories about ordinary people at moments of strain, small kindness, private dread, and sudden clarity. Susan Hill moves from domestic rooms to wider landscapes, keeping each tale tight and sharp.

A new investigation forces Simon Serrailler to revisit earlier decisions and see familiar people in a new light. As the case tightens, hindsight becomes both a tool and a trap, revealing what was missed and what cannot be fixed.

A short Simon Serrailler story about a case where resentment has had years to ferment. As Simon follows a thin thread of evidence, he sees how a desire for payback can twist ordinary lives, and how one act can echo.

A death in Lafferton draws Simon Serrailler into a case that moves between polished homes and precarious lives. As his team works, Simon also faces pressures at home, where duty doesn’t end when the shift does.

A short Simon Serrailler story that looks back at old places and old grudges in Lafferton. When the past refuses to stay buried, Simon follows threads that lead from routine to something quietly menacing.

In 1950s England, Olive Piper is a bright student with plans that feel newly possible. When she falls pregnant, she is forced into decisions shaped by secrecy, family pressure, and the limits placed on women.

A collection of ghost stories that keep the horror close to everyday life. A travelling bag turns up with a history it should not have, rooms feel watched, and past violence leaks into the present. These are slow-burn tales.

In this Simon Serrailler novella, a seemingly small event pulls the Lafferton police into a case about reputation and what people call bravery. Simon’s careful approach clashes with the story the town wants to believe.

A collected volume of Susan Hill’s major ghost stories in one place. Alongside The Woman in Black, it includes chilling tales of a cursed doll, a dangerous painting, and a grasping child’s hand, built on atmosphere rather than gore.

Lafferton faces another shock, and Simon Serrailler’s investigation cuts through family drama, private shame, and public anger. With Freya beside him, he follows small details that reveal how easily a town’s calm can break.

Sisters Mary and Fern Piper grow up with stories that never quite add up, especially after their father vanishes from their lives. Moving to a new village should mean a fresh start, but old grudges and new threats follow.

A shorter Simon Serrailler case that focuses on a single disturbing incident in Lafferton and the ripple effect it has on victims, witnesses, and police. Hill keeps the spotlight on atmosphere, motive, and ordinary lives cracking open.

Two young men rent lodgings near old Fleet Street, and curiosity draws them toward a shadowy past. A locked cellar hints at a dreadful experiment with death. Years later, returning to the place brings the horror back.

A couple retreat to the countryside expecting peace, but the landscape feels oddly watchful. Children appear and vanish, silent and intent, and the sense of being followed grows harder to dismiss. Dread builds from ordinary days.

In a bleak coalmining village, siblings dream of getting out and starting over. When a strange newcomer arrives, old resentments and buried secrets rise fast. This tense novella tracks how quickly hope can turn into tragedy.

Leonora and her cousin Edward are sent for the summer to their aunt’s house, where boredom and cruelty simmer. A doll becomes the focus of Leonora’s fixation, and what feels like childish play turns into something sinister.

A priest finds himself shaken by doubt and by the pull of a life he did not choose. As he moves through parish duties and private memory, a single relationship forces him to face what he believes, what he fears, and what he wants.

A new case in Lafferton begins with uncertainty over who a victim really is. As Simon Serrailler pieces together the story, stolen histories, family ties, and lies kept for years rise to the surface.

When someone the police should have been able to protect is harmed, Simon Serrailler faces a case that tests public confidence and his own judgement. The investigation widens into a tangle of secrets, loyalty, and hard choices.

Eve thinks she has found the perfect husband in Tommy, a man everyone calls kind. But the death of their baby leaves a wound that never closes. As illness threatens, Eve has to see her life, and her marriage, clearly.

Antiquarian book dealer Adam Snow takes a wrong turn and ends up at a derelict Edwardian house. A small, cold hand slips into his own, and follows him home in nightmares. When he returns to investigate, the haunting grows.

A brutal crime on a quiet street unsettles Lafferton, and pressure for an easy explanation rises fast. Simon Serrailler and his team look past scapegoats, while fear and rumor threaten to do their own damage.

Ten-year-old Olly is dragged from London to Gullywith, an old country house that seems to be falling apart. Strange stones keep appearing and accidents pile up. With a new friend, he hunts for the secret controlling the hills.

After failing to find a copy of Howards End in her own home, Susan Hill decides to spend a year reading only from her shelves. The result is a memoir of books, memory, and the odd logic of a house full of reading.

The Prime family’s remote farmhouse, the Beacon, holds a childhood they do not agree on. When one sibling puts their past into print, old resentments flare and private memories turn dangerous. What happened, and who controls the story?

A young man visits his old Cambridge professor and is drawn into the tale behind a Venetian carnival painting hanging on the wall. The more the picture is looked at, the more it seems to look back.

When violence touches Lafferton’s cathedral close, Simon Serrailler follows clues into tight-knit institutions where people keep their own rules. The investigation exposes what can be hidden behind respectability, and what it costs to speak up.

A troubling new investigation pulls Simon Serrailler into Lafferton’s hidden corners, where neglect and obsession can sit side by side. As he closes in on the truth, he has to decide what justice looks like when the damage is already done.

A collection of unsettling short stories where ordinary places, houses, visits, long walks, slip into the uncanny. The title story, Farthing House, shows how easily a routine trip can turn into something you do not want to explain.

Spring in Lafferton is shattered when a little boy is snatched on his way to school. As Simon Serrailler and Freya Graffham dig in, the case tangles with a second, quieter tragedy on the town’s edges.

A woman vanishes on the Hill above Lafferton, and more disappear in the same place. Detective Simon Serrailler and newcomer DS Freya Graffham follow a trail that leads far beyond a simple missing-persons case.

A collection of short stories about unlikely friendships and quiet turning points. A schoolboy befriends a beekeeper, a girl fights being boxed into drudgery, and another child builds trust with a blind man on the beach.

Florence Hennessy, known as Flora, has spent a lifetime carrying secrets and self-made stories. When family connections tighten and old memories resurface, her son Hugh and his wife must face what they never asked to inherit.

Susan Hill returns as editor for a second Penguin volume of modern women’s short stories. The selection offers variety in setting and style, and is built for dipping in, with strong standalone tales that linger after a brief read.

A meditation on gardens, written with Rory Stuart, that goes beyond planting advice. These essays look at how gardens shape our senses and sense of time, and how a small patch of ground can become a place for attention and calm.

Four stories that move between seaside towns, quiet rooms, and lives on the verge of change. They focus on memory, restrained emotion, and the moment when a small encounter shifts what a character thought was settled.

An illustrated guide to places around Britain linked with writers and books, from famous houses to less obvious landscapes. With maps and practical directions, it’s made for literary road-trips, and for armchair readers too.

A wide-ranging anthology of short stories by women, selected and introduced by Susan Hill. Designed for browsing, it offers different tones and topics, from family life and work to sharper, more experimental pieces.

A collection of four Christmas stories and a poem, set in earlier decades in England. These pieces mix festive detail with quiet melancholy, focusing on illness, loneliness, memory, and the small acts of kindness that can change a winter day.

Years after the fire at Manderley, Maxim de Winter and his second wife live a quiet life abroad, still shadowed by the past. When a letter arrives, they are pulled back toward England, where old questions refuse to stay settled.

Mr Hegarty is an elderly widower living quietly with his cat and dog at the edge of a changing city. On Christmas Eve, an unexpected discovery on a walk draws him back into human life, and gives the night a new meaning.

On a cold winter evening, a little girl slips out of her mother’s warm kitchen and into the snow. Curious about the dark wood, she thinks she sees frightening shapes and creatures, until she learns what fear can invent.

Edited by Susan Hill, this anthology gathers modern short stories by women from different backgrounds and styles. It’s a wide-ranging collection that moves from domestic realism to sharper social comedy, built for dipping in.

After years of travel, Sir James Monmouth returns to England obsessed with an explorer from his boyhood. Following the trail leads him to lonely inns and eerie houses, as the line between memory and haunting begins to blur.

A trio of gentle stories for young readers about friendship and everyday adventures. Children meet new neighbours, look after pets, and cope with a day when snow changes the plan. The stakes are small, and the feelings are real.

A short, illustrated early-reader story from the Racers series. The language stays clear and the chapters brief, building toward a birthday celebration and the small surprises, worries, and kindnesses that come with it.

In postwar England, Tilly and her widowed mother scrape by on dressmaking work and thin hope. When illness and bad luck threaten to ruin Christmas, a pair of glass angels and one brave choice bring the chance of a small miracle.

Polly hates dressing up and especially hates masks and painted faces. When her school plans a Pirate Day, she is terrified, until Mrs Douglas finds a gentle way to make the costumes feel less scary and helps Polly join in.

Thomas Cavendish, a sheltered Cambridge academic, has lived by rules that keep emotions at bay. When he becomes fixated on a much younger girl, desire and moral certainty collide, and his careful life starts to crack.

Susan Hill introduces and curates a collection of ghost stories for readers who want classic chills without heavy horror. Expect haunted rooms, strange visitors, and quiet dread that builds slowly and lingers.

An illustrated anthology of classic ghost stories, selected by Susan Hill and shaped for families and younger readers. These tales lean on atmosphere, creaking houses, and things seen out of the corner of an eye, rather than gore.

Selected and introduced by Susan Hill, this anthology gathers modern short stories by women, offering a range of voices, moods, and styles. It’s a dip-in collection for readers who like sharp observation and surprise endings.

Lucy Billings loves life in Codling Village, and it gets even better when a new girl moves next door. These linked stories follow friendships, pets, snowy days, birthdays, and small family adventures that feel familiar to young readers.

Septimus Honeydew cannot sleep, and he is determined that no one else in the house will sleep either. This playful picture book follows a night of fussing and footsteps, until the household finds a calmer way through.

A small, reassuring picture-book story about a boy facing his first days at nursery school. He’s sure he won’t go in, until the new room, the people, and the routine start to feel less scary, one visit at a time.

Suzy loves doing lots of things, but mostly she loves taking her shoes off. When she gets beautiful new shoes for a special day, she discovers that comfort and confidence matter more than being perfectly dressed.

Susan Hill writes frankly about wanting a child, the strain of trying, and the grief that followed the loss of her baby daughter. It’s a personal memoir about hope, fear, and the way life keeps moving when you feel stuck.

A portrait of the Cotswolds, from well-known market towns to quieter villages and lanes. Susan Hill guides you through landscape and local history, with an eye for churches, walking routes, and places tourists rush past.

When small disasters strike, Lottie’s mother has a way of making things feel right again, using her own kind of everyday magic. This warm picture book follows comfort, reassurance, and the steady love that helps a child feel safe.

On Christmas Eve, news spreads across fields and town streets, and people and animals alike are drawn to a stable. This lyrical picture book retells the nativity story through small scenes of wonder and quiet movement.

A nonfiction collection of essays, introductions, and reviews about reading and writers who mattered to Susan Hill, alongside a handful of radio plays. It’s part bookish conversation, part behind-the-scenes look at craft.

A tour of the landscapes around Stratford-upon-Avon and nearby towns linked with Shakespeare’s life and afterlife. Combining local history, atmosphere, and practical routes, it turns the region into a place you can picture and explore.

An elderly woman looks back to a country Christmas when she was nine and sees the moment childhood slipped away. It’s a quiet story of snow, family, and one loss that shaped everything after.

An illustrated celebration of gardens that blends short essays, poems, and lists about planting, wandering, and noticing. Susan Hill moves from grand estates to small backyards, capturing how gardens change with light, weather, and time.

Two gentle bedtime stories about childhood worries after dark. A parent helps a child find a way through bad dreams and nighttime fear, one small step at a time, until sleep feels safe again.

Arranged by season, this book mixes domestic essays with practical ideas from the kitchen, including recipes, tips, and notes on festivals. It’s about everyday cooking, the rhythm of the year, and what a home smells and sounds like.

On a routine assignment, young solicitor Arthur Kipps travels to a remote seaside town to settle an estate. At the isolated Eel Marsh House he meets a chilling presence, and learns why locals are desperate for him to leave.

Edited by Susan Hill for charity, this anthology collects essays and poems from a wide range of writers and public figures. It’s a varied, dip-in book that moves from reflections on daily life to sharper, more political pieces.

A year in an English village, told through seasons, weather, gardens, and small rituals. Susan Hill records country life with an observant eye, from walks and festivals to the minor dramas that make a place feel lived in.

A volume in the New Stories anthology series, bringing together a mix of contemporary short fiction. It’s a sampler of different voices and styles, designed for readers who like short pieces you can finish in one sitting.

A brief, accessible retelling of the life of Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man. Written in clear language, it follows harsh early years and the dignity he finds through friendship and care.

A set of radio plays that show Susan Hill’s ear for voice and atmosphere. These dramas use sound and silence to build tension, mixing the everyday with moments that feel strange, haunted, or quietly tragic.

After her husband dies suddenly, Ruth Bryce tries to keep life moving for her young children. In a small rural community, grief shows up in everyday tasks, and in unexpected kindness, as she works out what comes next.

A poet becomes obsessed with the work and ruined life of Francis Croft. As he retraces Croft’s steps from England to Venice, admiration slides into fixation, and the pursuit of truth starts to endanger the living.

A short, character-driven novella about a young man weighed down by family ties and expectations. As he tries to choose his own path, the past keeps returning, and responsibility stops feeling optional.

A collection of stories about English lives at the edge of change, young people chafing against limits, and older characters facing loneliness. The scenes look quiet on the surface, but they often end with a sting.

An old man and his seven-year-old godson live quietly in a cottage by the Suffolk marshes. A violent incident on a walk unsettles the boy, and the return of the child’s father threatens to break the fragile, hard-won peace.

A collection of early short stories that show Susan Hill’s feel for quiet tension. In homes, schools, and small towns, ordinary moments tilt into unease, with relationships fraying and small decisions leaving long shadows.

During the First World War, two officers form a deep friendship that offers shelter from fear, class boundaries, and trench life. When the war ends, the bond is tested by memory, loss, and what can never be spoken aloud.

Two boys, one confident and one vulnerable, are thrown together in a big, lonely house. What starts as childish cruelty becomes far darker, as bullying turns into a test of power that adults fail to stop.

A damp November in a coastal town becomes the backdrop for a family reckoning. As new visitors arrive and old hopes resurface, ordinary kindness and ordinary selfishness quietly reshape what everyone thought they knew.

In a small village, the death of a well-known resident should bring closure. Instead, it draws strangers and old secrets into the open, and a circle of respectable lives starts to look less secure than it seemed.

A young novelist hits success early, but the people around her do not simply fall into place. This novel follows friendships and love affairs, and the private bargains behind public confidence, as one woman learns what she can’t control.

In Susan Hill’s debut novel, a marriage becomes a pressure cooker of small misunderstandings and hidden disappointments. As daily routines tighten into obsession, two people discover how easy it is to misread love, and how hard it is to leave.