Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Travelling Bag cover art

The Travelling Bag

By: Susan Hill
Narrated by: Maggie Ollerenshaw
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £8.99

Buy Now for £8.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Man in the Picture cover art
The Small Hand cover art
Mist in the Mirror cover art
The Battle for Gullywith cover art
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
Strange Meeting cover art
More Cumbrian Ghost Stories cover art
The Creeper cover art
The Watchers cover art
Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland cover art
The Winter Spirits cover art
The Toll House cover art
The Orphan House cover art
This Is Midnight: Stories cover art
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories cover art
A Man of Shadows cover art

Summary

From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the eerie perfection of 1950s suburbia, the everyday is invaded by the evil otherworldly in this unforgettable collection of new ghost stories from the author of The Woman in Black.

In the title story, on a murky evening in a warmly lit club off St James, a bishop listens closely as a paranormal detective recounts his most memorable case, one whose horrifying denouement took place in that very building.

In 'The Front Room', a devoutly Christian mother tries to protect her children from the evil influence of their grandmother, both when she is alive and when she is dead.

A lonely boy finds a friend in 'Boy Number 21', but years later he is forced to question the nature of that friendship and to ask whether ghosts can perish in fires.

This is Susan Hill at her best, telling characteristically flesh-creeping and startling tales of thwarted ambition, terrifying revenge and supernatural stirrings that will leave readers wide awake long into the night.

©2016 Susan Hill (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"Traditional ghost stories of wonderful elegance.... Hill builds an atmosphere of creepiness in very few words; the pictures she creates in these stories are unforgettable." ( The Times)

What listeners say about The Travelling Bag

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good stories let down by the narration.

Classic ghost stories as Susan Hill excels in. The narration, however, was questionable with pauses in unexpected places and a languid delivery that made it sound that the narrator was bored stiff! There was also little to signify the end of one story and the start of the next.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Scary listening! But loved them!

Great short stories, well read. All a bit spooky but very enjoyable!
Highly recommended, but maybe not for younger listeners!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Neither scary nor entertaining

What would have made The Travelling Bag better?

The intervention of an editor to discuss plot, character and endings.

Would you ever listen to anything by Susan Hill again?

Never

Would you listen to another book narrated by Maggie Ollerenshaw?

Maybe

Any additional comments?

The plots where threadbare, rambling and incomplete, characters hollow and unconvincing and the endings - no twist, no dramatic enlightenment and no exciting finale. I bought this based on a brief review in the Guardian that left me intrigued. The narration was irritating at times but I believe this was due to the poor material. I listened to all three stories! I couldn't have been more disappointed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Definitely Recommended

Susan Hill doesn't disappoint - and well-read by all of the narrators! Definitely a recommended book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Misty Woman In The Small Painting

Four spooky yarns spun by that contemporary queen of the retro ghost story, Susan Hill. The titular novella is a dark tale of supernatural revenge in the Gentlemen's Club attire and period tradition of 'Mist In The Mirror' or 'The Man In The Painting', whilst the other three short stories occupy a vague, unspecified era of post-War modernity that I'm assuming to be somewhere between the 1950s and 1980s. Of these, 'Boy 21' was the slightest: somewhat Daphne Du Maurier in spirit, and beset by Hill's abiding flaw of underwhelming endings. 'The Front Room' was the bleakest effort: a clear cousin to Hill's most famous book, with its malevolent female ghost and imperilled children. My personal favourite was the moody 'Alice Baker', which turned the tale of an enigmatic haunting into a metaphor for the futility of office life.
Even Hill's most ardent admirers would be hard-pressed to claim these as her finest works, but they are all invested with enough atmosphere to make them an entertaining listen on a dark and stormy night. Maggie Ollerenshaw's downbeat narration suits the mood but was a little too drab for my tastes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant spooky stuff

This is a good, old fashioned book of short spooky storied. I enjoyed each of them immensely. Where short stories usually leave me feeling cheated, and wondering where the rest of the story went, these felt rounded and complete. Good stuff.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply Thrilling!!

Very good! Love Susan Hill's awesome stories and this collection proved perfectly creepy and spooky in equal measure!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good book let down by poor narration

Overall I enjoyed this book. The sense of atmosphere and skilful pacing are vintage Susan Hill. Unfortunately, though, the reader is just wrong for this text. Her voice is droning and disagreeable. It’s a shame as otherwise it would be a 5 star overall. I did manage to get past the narration, though, and would say it’s still worth getting the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Can’t fault Susan Hill

Not her best but still brilliant. Maybe it’s one that would be better read than heard so as to appreciate the prose better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!