We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (Viking Press, 1962)
A friend recommended this extraordinary novella and I am a little ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of it beforehand. It’s such an immediate and surefire classic that it seems amazing that it hadn’t crossed my radar before.
This dark, funny and strange tale sadly proved to be Shirley Jackson’s final work. She died in 1965, aged just 48.
Here’s how it begins:
This hooked me from the get go.
The unreliable narrator – whose pet name is Merricat – proves to be a real enigma and remains something of a mystery right to the end.
The relationship with her older sister is obsessive to the point that she worships and protects her like a gallant prince. Constance, for her part, shows infinite patience towards Merricat even when he behavior becomes extreme and violent. What is the terrible secret that binds them together?
In their remoteness and increasing isolation from conventional society, the sisters remind me a little of the reclusive and eccentric mother and daughter in the derelict mansion of the documentary film: Grey Gardens.
From Merricat’s account, we soon piece together the grim details of how the rest of the Blackwood family died, a tragedy that left only one other survivor, the semi-senile and wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian. Through this we gain some inkling as to why the nearby villagers are so hostile to the sisters.
This book doesn’t fit readily into any one genre of fiction. There are elements of fantasy, social satire, gothic horror, psychological thriller and murder mystery.
Over the years, I imagine publishers scratching their collective heads as to how this story should be marketed.
The range of cover art suggests it has been variously targeted young adult readers, fans of Edgar Allan Poe or else lovers of modern classics.
The book is shortly to be released as a movie and it will be interesting to see which of these styles the director will favor.
However it turns out, the adaptation will doubtless introduce the writer and her curious tale to a wider audience. But why wait until then?
