We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine Merricat Blackwood lives with her older sister Constance and their disabled uncle Julian in the locked Blackwood house outside a small Vermont village.
It is more unsettling than scary. The dread builds through Merricat's narration rather than through traditional horror set pieces.
Yes. It is shorter than The Haunting of Hill House and more accessible than her early novels, and it showcases her voice at its sharpest.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is 187 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, We Have Always Lived in the Castle takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.