We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson / 176-page paperback published in the Penguin Modern Classics Crime & Espionage Series
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“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
“If you haven’t read We Have Always Lived in the Castle … you have missed out on something marvellous.”–Neil Gaiman
Eighteen-year-old Merricat may, or may not be, a mass murderer
Six 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.
