We Have Always Lived in the Castle

In Shirley Jackson’s unsettling novel, the isolated Blackwood family exists in a state of eerie tranquility six years after a tragic arsenic poisoning event claimed the lives of four relatives. Remaining members Constance, Uncle Julian, and eighteen-year-old Merricat adhere to peculiar rituals to protect their home from the hostile villagers outside. However, the arrival of cousin Charles disrupts their fragile equilibrium, prompting Merricat to resort to increasingly desperate measures as hidden secrets and tensions come to the surface, revealing a powerful critique of societal norms.