Recommendations from our site
“Like a lot of Jackson’s work, it’s about small communities in 20th century America. It’s about a distrust of women. It follows a long literary tradition of women being accused of poisoning—this being the only disposal in a woman’s power in an otherwise oppressive society. And it’s about strange sisters. So you can see shades of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, though the supernatural in it isn’t as explicit, in fact you could argue there’s nothing supernatural in We Have Always Lived in the Castle at all. Instead it’s about a kind of strangeness.” Read more...
The Best Shirley Jackson Books
Joan Passey, Literary Scholar
“It has a barely contained, unhinged feel to it that I find completely gripping.” Read more...
Lucy Atkins, Novelist
“This is a masterpiece in atmosphere and Gothic empathy. It challenges your idea about what wickedness is.” Read more...
Sarah Perry, Novelist
