SHIRLEY JACKSON - We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

<this review contains details about the novel’s set-up, but does not reveal key events>

I’ve previously read Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Lottery, and while I enjoyed both of those, this short novel easily tops them. 

Painting a similarly claustrophobic atmosphere as in the aforementioned Hill House, this time we are introduced to another isolated dwelling populated by members of the Blackwood family : two youngish sisters, Constance and Mary Katherine (Merrrycat), the invalid and senile Uncle Julian, and Jonas the cat. 

The story begins with Merrycat making a shopping trip into town, uncomfortably enduring the stares and disapproving mumblings of the citizens. Is this real, or all in her head? What have they got against her? The story unfolds through Merrycat’s eyes.

Back at the house we are introduced to Constance and Julian. The former cannot leave the house, traumatised, the latter rambling in his dementia. The three seem like a tight-knit and loving unit, despite their obvious oddness.

It soon transpires that some kind of disaster has befallen their family which resulted in the loss of the other members. But what exactly happened, and why does this make the locals hostile?

Jackson expertly portrays the inner mind of the mentally damaged Merrycat, and the cloying narrow world of the family house they inhabit. 

A brilliant but deeply disturbing tale which earns a 10/10 from me.