We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“Sister goals.”

“Dark, funny, delicious. Shirley Jackson might be my favorite writer of complicated women’s interior worlds. I had read and been floored by The Lottery in high school, but this was the book that cemented her among my all time favorite writers.”

“Read the first paragraph and you’ll know. Short, sinister, and frankly genius work of interiority and weirdness, my favorite of hers. Prepare to be poisoned for all other voices.”

“So many story tropes that signal dread or unease are borne immaculately in Shirley Jackson novels. The distant family member with questionable motives. The uncle who went mad in the war. The haunted girl child, full of malice. An angry mob of townsfolk with pitchforks. Slow, soft, chilling unease and tension. A perfect book for any terrible woman. Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me!”