We Have Always Lived in the Castle

The deliciously dark and funny story of Merricat, tomboy teenager, beloved sister - and possible mass murdererEighteen-year-old Merricat may, or may not be, a mass murdererSix years ago everyone in the Blackwood family was poisoned by sugar laced with arsenic - everyone, that is, apart from Merricat and her elder sister Constance. They live in peaceful, ordered isolation, away from prying eyes in the nearby village, until one day boorish cousin Charles arrives with designs on their father's fortune. Whether by practical or magical means, Merricat will do whatever is necessary to protect their home.

Her greatest book ... at once whimsical and harrowing, a miniaturist's charmingly detailed fantasy sketched inside a mausoleum ... the deeper we sink, the deeper we want to go. -- Donna Tartt
The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable ... She is a true master. -- A. M. Homes
A masterpiece of Gothic suspense. -- Joyce Carol Oates
If you haven't read We Have Always Lived in the Castle ... you have missed out on something marvellous. -- Neil Gaiman

Shirley Jackson was born in California in 1916. When her short story, 'The Lottery', was first published in the New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the most iconic American stories of all time. Her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was published in the same year and was followed by Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, widely seen as her masterpiece. In addition to her dark, brilliant novels, she wrote lightly fictionalized magazine pieces about family life with her four children and her husband, the critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Shirley Jackson died in 1965.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.