'I didn't want you to come here.' So says the note that the boy Edmund Hooper passes to Charles Kingshaw upon his arrival at Warings. But, young Kingshaw and his mother have come to live with Hooper and his father in the ugly, isolated Victorian house for good. To Hooper, Kingshaw is an intruder, a boy to be subtly persecuted, and Kingshaw finds that even the most ordinary object can be turned by Hooper into a source of terror. In Hang Wood their roles are briefly reversed, but Kingshaw knows Hooper will never let him be. Kingshaw cannot win, not in the last resort. He knows it, and so does Hooper. And the worst is still to come...This extraordinary, evocative novel boils over with the terrors of childhood and won the Somerset Maugham Award. 'Hill's exploration of a juvenile ghoul and his natural prey is a brilliant tour de force' - "Guardian".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Susan Hill is the author of many books published by Penguin. Her novels include Gentlemen and Ladies and Mrs de Winter, the sequel to Du Maurier's Rebecca. She is also well-known for her children's books (Can it be true? won the Smarties Prize). She has written non-fiction, autobiography & has edited women's short stories and other classic fiction for Penguin. A regular broadcaster and reviewer, Susan Hill lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, Stanley Wells, the Shakespeare scholar.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A chilling classic, superbly plotted,
By
This review is from: I'm the King of the Castle (Paperback)
The horror of this book creeps up on you. Susan Hill paces the plot superbly, unfolding the evil in measured doses as she pulls the reader into the story. The characters are so well-crafted. Hooper is one of the most thoroughly vile characters I've encountered in a long time, and the influence completely good character in the book, is the perfect contrast in the story, and he unwittingly enables Hooper to sink to even greater depths of vileness.. Just a superb book, crafted by a master.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A WARNING TO PARENTS,
This review is from: I'm the King of the Castle (Heinemann Guided Readers) (Paperback)
This is a novel about irresponsible parenting, and as such should be read by adults as well as children. Susan Hill wants us to see the connection between the tragic events and the conduct of the two parents, Mrs Kingshaw and Mr Hooper. Either parent could have prevented the tragedy if they had been more sensitive to their children. More than anything, it is a novel about a lack of parental love, written by an adult who seems to take the problems children face very seriously indeed.In the character of Mr Hooper, we see how this lack of love is passed down from generation to generation, like a family legacy. As a child he was forced to see value in the collection of dead moths and butterflies belonging to his father, and prevented from exploring the fields around Warings, the family house. Mr Hooper's relationship with his father was distant, the latter instilling the value of material things, and of the Warings house as an inheritance. Apparently not knowing any better, Joseph Hooper instills the same values in his son, with disasterous consequences. He thinks he can buy the child's affection with material goods, and expects Edmund to go out to play when he wants to be alone. By bringing the Kingshaws to Warings, he thinks that he can create a family, and end the loneliness that he and his son are suffering from. But people are more complex than property. In one scene, Charles Kingshaw tries to force a piece into a jigsaw he is making, but the piece won't fit. It is a metaphor for the way the adults have been trying to make a family. Mrs Kingshaw, complying with Mr Hooper's attempts to make a family, is equally insensitive to her son's feelings. Their life has involved moving from hotel to hotel, without a stable domestic or family background. So eager is she to put down roots that she ignores the hostility between Charles and Edmund. Both Mrs Kingshaw and Mr Hooper share a fantasy that the two boys are best friends, despite Charles' repeated protests. While we can sometimes sympathise with her as a lonely, single woman, she does not provide Charles with love, and is ignorant of his suffering. The result of both parents' fantasy of happiness, and their failure to give love, is the tragic ending. Susan Hill's depiction of two parents who are unable to really understand their children is a sobering one; it serves as a warning. Neglect goes some way towards explaining why events unfold as they do; though, in Edmund Hooper, there is something beyond nurture that makes him act cruelly. Nevertheless, in the case of both families, a more loving, understanding environment for the children would have prevented the novel's tragic outcome. The book appeals to teenagers because it does not condescend to them; it shows an awareness of the trials children face but adults dismiss as being of little consequence. Susan Hill writes extremely well, but her major strength, at least as far as this novel goes, is in character (Whilst Edmund is viewed only from the outside, the character of Charles is a brilliant, sensitive depiction of a trapped, distressed child). Guaranteed to provoke debates in the classroom, and should be required reading for parents who like to plan their children's future.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't isolate this book,
By A Customer
This review is from: I'm the King of the Castle (Transaction Large Print Books) (Hardcover)
I had to buy this book as we had to use this book for our literature lessons. Initially, you may feel there is somehow a hidden meaning or something lacking in the story. However, as you read on, the story unfolds and you will realize the messages Susan Hill is trying to convey to the reader. The main themes of the book are fear, isolation, courage, human relationships and lastly, evil within the soul of a person. Readers will be shocked by how a child can lack innocence, as referred to Edmund Hooper, an important character in the story. Charles Kingshaw, the character we sympathize with greatly, will move us by the devastating circumstances he lives in. Bullying is no longer a light matter. It can leave a huge scar in one's life and even drive him to suicide. The story holds many symbolic situations and meanings. Parents should no longer underestimate the powers or the deep feelings a child has. Indulge into the story where you will discover the dark aspects of life.
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