Other editions of book We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

Author Shirley Jackson has thrilled fans of horror and intrigue for decades with her superbly crafted stories and has even inspired such authors as Neil Gaiman and Stephen King. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a classic tale of gothic horror sure to delight fans everywhere and has been optioned for film. Six years after four family members died of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods--elder, agoraphobic sister Constance, wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian, and eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine, or, Merricat--live together in pleasant isolation. Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic to guard the estate against intrusions from hostile villagers. But one day a stranger arrives--cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune--and manages to penetrate into their carefully shielded lives. Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods, resulting in crisis, tragedy, and the revelation of a terrible secret.

A deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. Apparently, most of the family was murdered at supper one day via the introduction of arsenic into their food. Only three family members survive, sisters Constance and Mary Catherine Blackwood, and their elderly Uncle Julian. Constance, who always cooked for her family, was charged with their murder but acquitted at trial. The surviving three Blackwoods now live in splendid isolation in their mansion, as they are reviled by the villagers. They are truly alone, except for the rare visitors who knew their family prior to the tragedy that took place. Even these few visits are almost too much for them. Still, Constance does her best to entertain them, although Merricat clearly wishes they would not come. Their highly structured world, however, is slowly torn apart, when Charles, a cousin, comes to visit them.