Hill Girl

by Charles Williams

From the back cover:
It was obvious she had nothing on beneath the old cotton dress and that she didn't give a damn.
Lee was just looking at her. She could see what he wanted. I could feel the collar of my shirt choking me.
"She ought to be against the law," Lee said slowly and shakily.
"She is," I said. "And her father would kill you."

Genres: Noir, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Fiction

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charles Williams


Charles Williams was one of the preeminent authors of American crime fiction. Born in Texas, he dropped out of high school to enlist in the US Merchant Marine, serving for ten years (1929-1939) before leaving to work in the electronics industry. He was a radio inspector during the war years at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington state. At the end of World War II, Williams began writing fiction while living in San Francisco. The success of his backwoods noir Hill Girl (1951) allowed him to quit his job and write fulltime.

Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which range from hard-boiled, small-town noir to suspense thrillers set at sea and in the Deep South. Although originally published by pulp fiction houses, his work won great critical acclaim, with Hell Hath No Fury (1953) becoming the first paperback original to be reviewed by legendary New York Times critic Anthony Boucher. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, such as Dead Calm (published in 1963) and Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay.

After the death of his wife Lasca (m. 1939) from cancer in 1972, Williams purchased property on the California-Oregon border where he lived alone for a time in a trailer. After relocating to Los Angeles, Williams committed suicide in his apartment in the Van Nuys neighborhood in early April 1975. Williams had been depressed since the death of his wife, and his emotional state worsened as sales of his books declined when stand alone thrillers began to lose popularity in the early 70s. He was survived by a daughter, Alison.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hill Girl was Williams’ first published novel and an incredible success, garnering well over a million sales. It was so successful that Williams became a writer full time, at least until tastes changed in the Seventies and, despondent over his wife’s death and his career imploding, he blew his brains out in a Van Nuys motel. Some of these noir writers could actually live noir lives.

Hill Girl, a backcountry noir, is about two brothers, reminiscent of Cain and Abel, or some might say reminiscent of Steinbeck’s East of Eden, which however was not published until the following year-1952. Which came first- the chicken or the egg, one might ask.

It is the story at its heart about two brothers, Bob and Lee. They grew up motherless with Lee being the favored son, and eventually the handsome one. Lee was that charming good looking guy who could charm the clothes off any woman he saw, drove a hundred miles an hour at all times, and drank everything he could find. In high school, Lee ran off with a married woman to New Orleans where the police caught up with him.

Bob, as the story opens, had been away for two years and got shut out in the inheritance game was his father died and had it bad for redheaded Mary who Lee married and cheated on. Bob got through college, thinking he could make it as a prizefighter after some success on the intercollegiate circuit, found that he didn’t have the speed or the force to stand in the ring with professionals, and came home with his tail between his legs. Bob was the ugly brother as he was often reminded as well as the worrywart compared to Lee’s free and easy manner.

It’s a part of the country with everyone has a hunting rifle and you think the trouble would start over Mary, but it’s the barely legal -if that- daughter of a nearby farmer and moonshiner that does it. Angelina is busting out all over in barely-there tattered dresses and longing for anyone to give her any kind of attention since she’s trapped on the farm like a prisoner. Lee has his eyes on her and Bob knows if anyone so much as breathes near Angelina the bullets will start flying. Still, Lee makes excuses to visit and sample moonshine and soon he’s meeting Angelina in his sportscar or on a blanket and the family is running around causing havoc. Back home, Mary can’t help but suspect since Lee blathers about it all on his drunken nights.

You suspect that Bob has it bad for Angelina too but he’s too cautious to act on it and instead is in the uncomfortable position of trying to keep his brother from getting shot and Mary from knowing too much.

When Angelina’s father shows up loaded to kill, it is Bob who takes the blame and who agrees to a shotgun wedding, going off to elope with his poor teenage seductress who thinks Bob hates her for no good reason. The whole thing stinks and you know Lee who is obsessed with Angelina is going to blow his top. You wonder if Bob is really doing it just to spite his brother who seems to have it all, the inheritance, Mary, and now Angelina.

Their star-crossed marriage barely survived the elopement with Bob taking a surly attitude and hating Angelina because no matter how she falls for Bob’s kindness, he’s always jealous that Lee got to Angelina first and had her physically in every way a man could have a woman, bragging about it to Bob.

As the reader, you want to scream to them to run off to California and start over because maybe that way they’ll have a chance, but you know this couple haunted by jealousy in this love triangle is doomed from the start. You just don’t know how it will play out and who’ll take the fall or what the set up would be.

What Williams does so well here is not just set up the obsession and jealousy, but paint how sad and miserable these people are and how trapped they feel.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

05/2022

From 1950
Two brothers, Lee and Bob. Between them, Angelina, an 18 year old (& the titular Hill Girl). The married brother, Lee, is obsessed with her, sleeping with her. In order to protect shitty Lee, his less sinful brother Bob marries Angelina. Classic love triangle. The married couple falls in love. Included is a rom-com staple where they go shopping and he buys her better clothes. And she gets her hair cut. Satisfying in a way that appeals to both genders. Of course the brothers have to face off at the end.
Charles Williams is a great writer. This is his first book. It is so good. For some odd reason of publishing rights (?), it is not available. At all. I was very generously given a copy of this. It is a Gold Medal Book, cover shown here, from 1950. The pages are clean and good, but the spinal glue is moribund (over 70 now). Still a beautiful treasure.

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two brothers ...one a wastrel but likeable, the other a former collegiate football standout and boxer, turned -briefly- professional.
The boxer turned out from the family for being uppity, I reckon.
Chalked out of the will.
Never settling down, always on the bum.

But then he comes back to the rural area to farm what ground was left him by his grandfather who admired him, unlike his father.
And it's there he meets Angelina.

"What's it like with you, Bob? Do things seem to sort of run together? Is it like you're flying through colored clouds?"

”Right now it's like having a high fever and being full of quinine. Everything's fuzzy and my ears hum."


"It doesn't sound very nice for you. Maybe what you need is a doctor."



"All right," I said. "Call a doctor."


"No. But I want it to be nicer for you. I want you to see the colors. Big clouds of colors swinging around and passing through each other. I don't think men have any fun being in love. Don't you see any colors?"



"No. I'm sorry."

Dynamite writing throughout.

It's not a noir. It's not Erskine Caldwell-light as I'd originally written.
It's literary writing and the fact that this was Charles Williams' debut and a Paperback Original published by Gold Medal just kills me.

This is up there with Nelson Algren.
This is a brilliant debut novel.

Williams would go on to write other noir thrillers but this one is a stop-dead killer.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to dip into the archives every now and then for a change of style and pace, and with Hill Girl being written over 60 years ago it certainly fits into that category. When I came upon it I didn't really expect too much, more that it would be a quick read and something a bit different.

Bob has been away at college and trying unsuccessfully to make his way as a boxer. Now in his mid 20s, and with the father he never got on with dead, he returns home to take on the farm his grandfather left him. His younger brother Lee, the golden boy of the two, is a hard drinking, womanising tearaway who has now married and should be settling down. However, Lee has the hots for Angelina, the 18 year old daughter of local farmer Sam, who keeps her on a tight leash. The fact that Lee is married, Sam is over protective and Bob keeps warning Lee off doesn't seem enough to disuade him.

When things come to a head, the story takes an unexpected (by me, anyway) turn, and here it becomes more interesting. Two of the characters get into a situation neither of them wants to be and end up on a rocky ride of angst and misunderstanding. I thought Williams expressed this very well. I'm trying to be vague here so as not to include spoilers. To sum up, Hill Girls is an interesting read that I enjoyed more than expected and gets a strong 3 stars.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hill Girl by Charles Williams

Despite its exemplary early 1950’s paperback cover, Hill Girl goes far beyond its sexy sales pitch. It’s a brilliant character study of the relationships of two brothers shaped by their beliefs and reactions to circumstances they create or confront. Williams’ characters live within the rigid cultural roles of the era. The men must maintain a tough, unsentimental worldview, yet his prose skillfully reveals their underlying emotions and motivations, in plain, but indirect narrative and dialogue. It’s a story of unexpected depth and facility.

The catalyst that forces brothers Bob and Lee Crane to embrace or deny their adulthood is eighteen-year-old blossom, Angelina, smothered by an overprotective father whose unwittingly strict doctrines produce exactly the opposite effect he intends.

The setup in Hill Girl may sound like a familiar bawdy gag, but Williams takes it in unexpected directions, exposing character and driving action in a sort of perfect dark symmetry, making a fast read, even faster. Classified as country noir, Hill Girl, is a satisfying exploration of an out-of-balance mix of human flaws and virtues.

I reviewed Williams’ A Touch of Death, from Hard Case Crime, last year, and knew I wanted to read more of his work. Clark Dissmeyer read my review and sent me Hill Girl in response. Turns out, it was Williams’ breakout novel, published in 1950, with sales over a million copies. The copy Clark sent was the fourth edition, one of three printing in 1951 alone. Williams may not be well known today but he was considered one of the finest suspense writers of his day. His novels were the basis of a dozen movies and teleplays, including Dead Calm (1989) and The Hot Spot (1990).

The success of Hill Girl enabled Williams to write full time and he quickly followed it with Big City Girl and River Girl. Next was Hell Hath No Fury, perhaps his most well-known work, and on which Dennis Hopper’s The Hot Spot was based. In all, Williams published 22 novels during his lifetime. He committed suicide in 1975, at the age of 65. In my book, Hill Girl easily earns: ✪✪✪✪✪

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Million-selling debut novel from Charles Williams. This story of alcoholism and unbridled sexuality, which was scandalous in 1951, seems mighty tame today. A period piece.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read all sorts of books. I don't try to impress people by saying, "I don't read such and such types of books". The best experiences I have in reading is when I come to a novel with no expectations. The book is a blank slate for me and I allow the author to fill the page without the detractions of opinions or attitudes handed to me by others that color the reading experience.

I love pulp fiction paperback covers. The art work is so tawdry. I prefer tawdry to the politically correct, antiseptic cover art one finds with books nowadays. Looking at pages of pulp fiction paperback covers, I felt the urge to read a book in the pulp fiction/noir genre. I looked at several authors on Goodreads and decided to check out Charles Williams. Several of his novels have been made into films.

Hill Girl was his first effort and sold over a million copies. What an amazing book! One would expect really gritty writing judging the book by its cover. Imagine my surprise when I found the writing to be intelligent and the story was incredibly well presented. Hill Girl is a short novel but the writing is succinct without being sparse. The economy of words and the lack of embellished events in the book are testaments to how controlled Williams is with his story telling. Many works of classic literature are massive books. The author is in love with the way he writes, therefore, he vomits sentences across the page and embellishes the story line with events and characters that only take away from straightforward telling of the tale. Williams does not fall prey to this style of writing.

Hill Girl is the story of two brothers and the girl one loves and the other brother obsesses over. When the girl is first presented in the book, she is not likeable. I had no good feelings for her at all. But, as the story progressed, Williams expertly presents the reasons why she is the way she is. One aspect of this story is the redemption of Angelina from the harsh person she is at first to the caring and giving person she is when the book ends. Creating a believable growth in character as is done in Hill Girl is something it's even hard to find in so-called "serious" literature.

Hill Girl is a very well written book. The story holds one's interest because you aren't ever sure how things will progress as the story unfolds. I was on the lookout for aspects of tawdriness and that sort of crassness never happened. Instead, I found a sensitive story told in a controlled way that kept my interest and amazed me by the author's expertise.

[Tom Stamper · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a fan of noir tales, I like seeking out the old classics. Turns out that this was more pulp than noir. There are a few suspense scenes, but it's mostly salacious in comparison to 1950s film and TV standards. To explain what I mean the story could more or less be an episode of Sons of Anarchy or Dexter.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Seule, sans aucune connection avec le monde extérieure, elle est convoitée par tous les hommes qui croisent son chemin et se perdent dans ses cheveux d'or. Seule, entourée des collines, des montagnes et des arbres, l'ombre masculine planent sur sa liberté.

Quand son frère, un sacré coureur de jupon, est à deux doigts de se faire assassiner par le père d'une de ses conquêtes, Bob, un fermier au physique de rugbyman, n'a pas d'autre choix que de se marier à dulcinée pour éviter le pire. Et si cela ne faisait en fait qu'empirer les choses ?

La Fille des collines est une gemme sans doute oubliée par beaucoup. C'est une quête masculiniste de l'objet de conquête de tout homme, la femme. Pourtant, loin d'être comme ses confrères de l'époque, l'auteur, Charles Williams, défend cette 'femme', notamment par l'évolution psychologique du narrateur. Bob, d'abord virulent et violent, corrompu par la jalousie et le dégoût qu'il a de lui-même, s'adoucit petit à petit au contact d'Angélique, cette femme qui le révulse d'abord. Peut-être d'ailleurs parce qu'elle le met face à lui-même et ses actions inadmissibles. Angélique a été dominée (comprendre 'utilisée') par tous les hommes au cours de sa vie : son père la battait, les autres ne l'utilisaient que dans un intérêt sexuel. Lorsqu'elle se marie avec Bob, elle s'émancipe, et l'aide à devenir un homme meilleur, tout en apprenant de lui et de sa maturité aussi.

Le développement psychologique des personnages se fait chez Williams, outre pour le protagoniste, au travers des dialogues plutôt que dans leurs actions. Ce sont ces petits mots, ces petits détails qui changent qui font comprendre au lecteur que le personnage, lui-aussi, évolue, tant négativement que positivement.

La nature prend une place importante aussi dans le livre, surtout au début. Elle est synonyme de liberté, et c'est le temps passé dans les champs qui permet aux personnages d'apprécier la vie jusqu'à ses racines.

Ce qui m'a touché particulièrement avec ce livre est le talent qu'il a pour décrire cette relation si touchante et romantique qu'entretiennent Bob et Angélique. Leur 'lune de miel' improvisée, ces six jours au bord de l'océan, paraissent comme un souvenir que j'aurais vécu, des vacances dont je ne pourrais me débarrasser du goût salé dans la bouche.

Très touchant, je suis convaincu que La Fille des collines est un classique que tout le monde devrait redécouvrir et lire au moins une fois dans sa vie.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of a hard-boiled romance. Bob and Lee are brothers who couldn't be more opposite. Bob—our narrator—is a gentle giant with a sharp tongue. Lee is a handsome player and prone to drinking. Both of them find themselves involved with the alluring neighbor girl, Angelica. Simply put, Lee's obsessed with her, and Bob hates her. Halfway through the book Bob makes a crazy decision which turns the relationships between the characters on their heads.

Williams is a good writer. This isn't great literature, but there are passages in here that were worth more than the crumbling pulp they're printed on. (I actually had to fix the binding as I got a quarter into the book.) He also crafted some three-dimensional characters with hurts and pride and warts. And this was his first book! I'd love to read more by him and am glad this novel was in the Box of Pulps.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's definitely not my favorite Charles Williams book. For a debut, it definitely shows promise, but the plotting is weak and it's a sequence of well-written passages that don't add up to very much. Here, though, is a strong contender in my growing list of Charles-Williams-hilariously-describing-sexy-women:

It wasn’t that she had grown so much. She wasn’t big, even now. But it was as if she had received twenty-five pounds or so in the mail with instructions on how to put it on where she thought she needed it most.

[Chris Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you start out your writing career this good the sky is the limit, if it only paid well enough to keep the greats writing.

People should note that the covers and blurbs from these old books are almost always just bait, many of them hold their own to anything considered Literature of the time.

[Raime · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐ A noir novel from the early 50-s with very confident masculine writing. I didn't like the way the story went.

"I must have said it, for there wasn’t anybody else in the room, but it didn’t sound like my voice. It sounded like someone being strangled."

"Nothing’s as dead as last year’s football games.”

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of two brothers, good and evil, better than I expected, 3.6