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synopsis

When you were a kid, did you ever wonder about that foreboding house down the block? How it garnered a reputation of soul-churning evil, all based on accusation and suspicion? The very one you and your friends never dared step near, not even to fetch a mis-thrown ball, believing in the hokum everyone else did? If so, then you’ve come to the right place!
       The Blackwood residence is that menacing house, a citadel set apart from the conforming ire of its small, conservative Vermont town. One bereft of neighborly compassion but also one that wields a mystery and mischievousness that fuels its opposition. Though, even if there is truth to the hearsay, at what price does it cost its occupants, or even the town, their dignity?
       Residing within that fortress of isolation are the teenage Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, her older agoraphobic sister, Constance, their wheelchair bound uncle, Julian, and their doting cat, Jonas. Mary serves as the caretaker, only leaving the residence for a trip or two to the local grocery store. Like her family, she enjoys the solitude and seclusion their home brings. For on the outside, the town grows with contempt, knowing all about their troubled past that gossip loves to blossom.
       Their parents, John and Ellen, Aunt Dorothy, and younger brother, Thomas, once lived there. But it’s been six years since their passing; rather, their poisoning. And the court of public opinion rules as it sees fit. The sisters are always in their crosshairs.
       Now, their pipe-smoking cousin, Charles, has paid them a visit, bringing with him an air of deceitful charm. Constance may have taken the bait, but Mary senses an alarming presence — one she can’t seem to expel. And the watchful eyes of the outside world are just a little too pleased with the outcome.
       We Have Always Lived in the Castle is Shirley Jackson’s ode to the other. A love letter to all the squares who resist squeezing to fit the round hole. She’ll make you think twice before you offer that next stink eye or snide comment. Because you really don’t know who’s on the other side of that cherubic glare, or what they’ve had to endure. Even worse, you don’t know what they’re capable of. As Jackson’s swan song, the novel serves as a fitting end to a career that influenced countless authors and mortified even more readers.
       Our forthcoming edition of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle will be an oversize (7¾ × 12¾ inches) edition with the following features:
      Six color interiors, endpapers, and dustjacket by artist Thomas Ehretsmann, and numerous black & white spot illustrations by Jason C. Eckhardt. New introduction by Laird Barron. New afterword by Laurence Hyman, Shirley Jackson’s son. Printed endpapers, capped cloth slipcase, top-edge stain and ribbon marker, hand-tipped illustrations, heavy paper, and other extras. Each copy is signed by Laird Barron, Thomas Ehretsmann, and Jason C. Eckhardt.