By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
After a year long wait for a good discount, I finally bought myself a copy of ‘We’ve Always Lived in The Castle’ by Shirley Jackson. Don’t judge me, limiting one’s book budget and not having a shelf full of unread titles is an achievement of sorts.
Anyway… back to Shirley Jackson… her ‘Haunting of Hill House’ was a lot more compelling and the Netflix series based on the novel is even better, especially for those who love psychological horror. But ‘We’ve Always Lived In The Castle’ isn’t a horror story, and unlike what the blurb would like readers to believe, it isn’t even much of a mystery. It does have some great psychological elements and an interesting devious narrator who keeps you wanting to turn the pages until the very end.
Plot overview: The wealthy Blackwood family consisted of seven members, until arsenic poisoning claimed the lives of four of them. The three survivors continue to live in the large mansion where the murders took place and lead an idyllic routine life for six years. However, their life is disrupted when a cousin comes knocking on their door with an eye on Blackwood wealth, paving way for fresh tragedy.
Listen to my audio review of the book on the latest podcast episode of ‘Abstract AF’. Do subscribe to the channel.
