Product Description

Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods – until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13009 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco in 1919. She first received wide critical acclaim for her short story 'The Lottery', which was published in 1948. Her novels - which include The Sundial, The Bird's Nest, Hangsaman, The Road through the Wall, We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House - are characterised by her use of realistic settings for tales that often involve elements of horror and the occult. Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages are her two works of nonfiction. Come Along With Me is a collection of stories, lectures, and part of the novel she was working on when she died in 1965.

Customer Reviews

Underlyingly Unsettling
Even the start of We Have Always Lived in the Castle is quite a chilling one told by the youngest daughter of the Blackwood family Merricat (from Mary Katherine) as she tells us that in a crumbling old building, we presume a castle, surrounded by woodland live her, her sister and her aging Uncle Julian (who seems to have Alzheimer's and even believes Merricat is dead) as outcasts from the nearby village. In fact in the opening chapters we see how the village treat her like some kind of leper, they will chide and tease her but they won't come near her for fear of her family name and past.

I won't give too much away about the book suffice to say there is a great mystery around her families death and one that as you read along you gain more snippets into until you find out one shocking twist which did actually make me let out a small gasp. The sinister tone of the book is underlying for most of the book and in some ways becomes much darker on the arrival of their cousin Charles who Merricat takes and instant dislike to before things come to a rather dark and dramatic head. A haunting novel that build slowly and yet will stay with you long after you finish it.

Gothic masterpiece
Constance, her teenage sister Merrycat, and their Uncle Julian (an unforgettable character) live like hermits in an old New England house, shunned by their small town neighbours.Constance was acquited of poisoning her parents, brother and aunt and she will not leave the house and its grounds. Then, one day, cousin Charles arrives, precipitating terrible events.This is a gripping classic of American gothic horror, beautifully written and psychologically acute. This new edition has a very illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates.

The wonderful world of Merricat Blackwood
I enjoyed 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle', the main character Merricat is one of the most strange but strongest female characters I have read. You begin reading thinking the story is very straightforward but as it progresses you find out more and more the Blackwood family, which is excellent to read.

Highly recommended.