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  • Published: 10 September 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241685044
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $22.99

We Have Always Lived in the Castle




The deliciously dark and funny story of Merricat, tomboy teenager, beloved sister - and possible mass murderer

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.

  • Published: 10 September 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241685044
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco in 1916. She first received wide critical acclaim for her short story 'The Lottery', which was published in 1949. 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.

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Praise for We Have Always Lived in the Castle

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