We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - 1962

VERY GOOD — DUST JACKET: Wear & tear to top and bottom edges of spine, panels, folds and flaps. Minor chipping to top and bottom of spine and corresponding corners. Minor chipping to 3 of 4 outside corners. Closed tears to top and bottom of spine, both sides. Closed tears to top and bottom edges of front panel, primarily the latter. Small abrasion to laminate face, lower left, front panel. Very light soiling, back panel. Price clipped. Tears mended on reverse with archival tape. BOARDS: Very good condition. Minor soiling spots to quarterbound, front. Very small bumps to top middle edge and upper outside edge, front. BOOK: Very good condition. Nice topstain. Please inspect photos closely and read description carefully for condition details.

Here on offer is a nice copy of Shirley Jackson's final novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a dark tale described as Jackson's masterpiece and the basis for the 2018 film of the same name. This copy is a 1st trade edition, 1st printing of the work published by Viking Press in 1962. The dust jacket is protected from further wear by a Mylar sleeve.

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"Shirley Jackson's masterpiece: the deliciously dark and funny story of Merricat, tomboy teenager, beloved sister - and possible lunatic.

'Her greatest book ... at once whimsical and harrowing, a miniaturist's charmingly detailed fantasy sketched inside a mausoleum ... Through depths and depths and bloodwarm depths we fall, until the surface is only an eerie gleam high above, nearly forgotten; and the deeper we sink, the deeper we want to go' — Donna Tartt, author of The Goldfinch

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.

'A masterpiece of Gothic suspense' — Joyce Carol Oates

'If you haven't read We Have Always Lived in the Castle ... you have missed out on something marvellous' — Neil Gaiman' "

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Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories.

. . . After publishing her debut novel, The Road Through the Wall (1948), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood in California, Jackson gained significant public attention for her short story "The Lottery", which presents the sinister underside of a bucolic American village. She continued to publish numerous short stories in literary journals and magazines throughout the 1950s, some of which were assembled and reissued in her 1953 memoir Life Among the Savages. In 1959, she published The Haunting of Hill House, a supernatural horror novel widely considered to be one of the best ghost stories ever written. Jackson's final work, the 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is a Gothic mystery which has been described as Jackson's masterpiece.

. . . [In 1962], Time Magazine's list of the "Ten Best Novels" of the year included We Have Always Lived in the Castle. . . . [In 2007], The Shirley Jackson Award is established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic."

The above text was taken from, respectively, Penguin publishing (via Google Books) and Wikipedia.