We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Wow! I picked this up from my local library following a Small Press book club discussion of “At the Edge of the Woods” by Kathryn Bromwich. That book features blurbs comparing it to Shirley Jackson, an author I've never read. Members of the book club who had were nonplussed with the comparison and spoke highly of this and another book, Hangsaman also by Jackson.

I checked both out from the library and read this first as it was shorter and I'd heard about this one before. I am surprised at how gripping it was! I was frequently questioning what was going on, what had happened, trying to figure out the backstory. It was enjoyable when I did find out. The back third of the story is pretty different and I feel like I will need to sit with it for a while before coming to a full conclusion. I finished the book about 5 minutes ago and thus have not had time to cook on it. I had fun reading this!