we have always lived in the castle full text

The daily life of the three Blackwoods is oddly tranquil and very routine. The mostly working class town resents the family and a new generation is growning up with a sort of urban legend regarding the murder, this uneasy history will lead to the novel's climax. Julian has barely survived the poisoning, he is physically disabled and via his senile ramblings we learn more and more about particulars from the day of the terrible incident. Years later those that remain in the estate are 18-year-old Mary Katherine (Merrycat, a child at the time), her older sibling Constance (found not guilty of the crime), and poor old Uncle Julian. The story takes place in a small town in the aftermath of an arsenic murder that has killed off most of one of the old money families, the Blackwoods. This was a very quick read at just over 160 pages. 'Settings are dark and ancient – a decaying manor house.' - right there in the title.'Narrators can be chronically unreliable and occasionally unhinged' - ha!.'melancholia, insanity, mayhem, cruelty, and death' - check, check, check, check, and check!.'foreboding progressing into full-blown fear' - yep.'A naïve heroine trapped in a claustrophobic setting' - check.After finishing, I read a Readers Advisory article about the genre from Novelist Plus (use your ICPL card and password for at-home access) and discovered many of the standard characterizations of the genre were present in this novel : I haven't read much in this genre style and was prepared for pure spooky but instead found the story just made me tense. This was my first experience reading something by Shirley Jackson though I was familiar with her reputation as a modern Gothic horror fiction writer.

We have always lived in the castle full text