We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - 3 stars

[Joy D]

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - 3* - My Review

Published in 1962, this is Shirley Jackson’s short classic horror novel, which I read for a group. A family is living in an old gothic house. One of them was apparently involved in poisoning family members. Another relative arrives, seemingly to take advantage of any money he can find. Mary Katherine, the young protagonist, takes a disliking to this relative. Eventually, harmful things happen.

It is a quick read. I am not exactly sure why this is considered a classic. The writing is fairly straightforward. It is pretty tame by today’s standards, which was probably a good thing for me. Horror is not my genre, so I was not expecting to like it, but I have to say I enjoyed it more than expected.