We Have Always Lived in the Castle

TL;DR

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a slim, startling novel that marries gothic horror with psychological complexity. Set in a secluded New England manor, it follows two sisters – Merricat and Constance Blackwood – as they live in semi-voluntary exile from a hostile village, haunted by a dark family tragedy involving arsenic. Shirley Jackson’s prose is clean and hypnotic, revealing horror not through ghosts or gore, but through the eerie interiority of her characters and the slow suffocation of social exclusion. With its unforgettable narrator, subtle humour, and creeping dread, this is a perfect read for fans of psychological thrillers, gothic fiction, and the quietly uncanny.

First Thoughts

I can’t remember where I first encountered Shirley Jackson, but reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle for the first time sent me straight to the bookshop to buy the rest of her work. Jackson may be filed under ‘macabre’, but for me she defines the category. Her writing is rich, immersive, and full of menace. What makes this novel so compelling is its structure: we enter after an unspeakable event, knowing another will surely follow. Yet when the details emerge, their unvarnished presentation makes them all the more shocking, and oddly delicious in their audacity.

There’s also a thrilling sense of inevitability: the catastrophe at the end seems preordained. And even more remarkably, Jackson delivers a kind of happy ending – strange, yes, but fitting. We Have Always Lived in the Castle reconfigures European gothic tropes for the American setting: the aristocratic manor becomes a decaying family home on the edge of a hostile town, where wealth is resented, not revered. In many ways, it inverts the tradition entirely. This is a tight, genius work, made all the more astonishing by its brevity.

About the Book

Published in 1962, just three years before Shirley Jackson’s death, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is her final novel and arguably her finest. At its centre is 18-year-old Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, who lives with her older sister Constance and their disabled uncle Julian in the crumbling Blackwood family estate. The rest of the family died six years earlier from arsenic poisoning at the dinner table. Constance was arrested for the murders but acquitted, while suspicion and hostility from the nearby village have never lifted.

Narrated entirely by Merricat, whose voice is both dreamy and disturbing, We Have Always Lived in the Castle slowly reveals the psychological toll of social isolation, the weight of secrets, and the shifting loyalties within the remaining family. The story escalates when an estranged cousin, Charles, arrives with apparent designs on the family’s wealth, setting off a chain of events that leads to renewed disaster.

Deceptively simple and just under 150 pages, We Have Always Lived in the Castle balances tension, atmosphere, and emotional nuance with remarkable control. It is widely recognised as a landmark of American gothic fiction and continues to fascinate readers and critics alike.

What Others Think

In this Guardian piece, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is celebrated for its claustrophobic setting, eerie tone, and masterful pacing. Merricat’s rituals, the tension with the villagers, and the arrival of Cousin Charles create a pressure cooker environment, culminating in a climax that feels both shocking and inevitable. The review highlights how Jackson uses the ordinary to suggest the supernatural, imbuing domestic spaces with dread without ever invoking ghosts.

A Medium review explores the novel’s semi-autobiographical dimensions, noting Jackson’s own fraught relationship with her New England neighbours. It sees the book as a “summer’s breeze” of a read, marvellously strange, and an ideal companion for anyone nursing a mistrust of the world. Merricat, the review suggests, may be sociopathic, but her isolation and hostility feel oddly understandable, especially in times of collective retreat like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Literary Elephant review applauds the We Have Always Lived in the Castle’s psychological depth and subtle horror. It acknowledges the ambiguity at the heart of the book – both in terms of plot and morality – and points to the strength of its characterisation. Each family member’s peculiar coping mechanism paints a portrait of a group held together by denial, love, and mutual dependence. The review also praises the 2019 film adaptation for its fidelity to the novel, though it notes that some of the book’s mystery is made more explicit in the film.

Themes, Style & Impact

At its heart, We Have Always Lived in the Castle explores themes of isolation, paranoia, and familial loyalty; some themes strongly in common with The Elected Member. Merricat’s narration is deliberately childlike yet disconcertingly violent, reflecting the trauma she’s internalised and the strange security she finds in superstition and routine. Her protective instinct over Constance borders on obsession, and the novel carefully plays with the reader’s sympathy and suspicion. Are we to root for Merricat or fear her?

Jackson’s style is taut and rhythmic, with a precision that heightens the novel’s unease. Her prose is deceptively simple, yet every word pulls us deeper into the closed world of the Blackwoods. The house itself becomes a character – a gothic relic that shelters and imprisons its inhabitants.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle also interrogates class, gender, and social conformity. In Jackson’s hands, the small town is not a place of community, but of judgment and cruelty. Merricat and Constance are vilified not just for their alleged crimes, but for their difference – their solitude, their eccentricity, their resistance to reintegration.

In transforming the American home into a site of gothic dread, Jackson subverts European literary tropes. The “castle” is metaphorical, but no less haunted than the crumbling estates of classic gothic fiction. The haunting, however, is emotional and psychological rather than supernatural – a ghost story without ghosts.

Final Thoughts

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is an unforgettable experience. It is brief but rich, quiet yet devastating, gothic yet domestic. Shirley Jackson’s final novel distills her lifelong concerns – alienation, female autonomy, the dark side of social cohesion – into a perfectly balanced work that chills without ever resorting to cliché.

For me, this was one of my most powerful book discoveries, a reminder that formality and brevity can yield extraordinary emotional power. That it all comes from such a strange and unsettling place only makes it more impressive. Whether you love horror or avoid it, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a book that deserves your attention – and perhaps a quiet reread in the dark.

Further Reading

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – another of Jackson’s masterworks, exploring fear and female identity in a haunted house setting.
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson – Jackson’s famous short story about conformity and ritual violence.
• The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson – short fiction collection showcasing her range in macabre themes.
• Edgar Allan Poe – for those interested in classic American gothic horror.
• Joyce Carol Oates – discussed in the First Thoughts section as a literary commentator on Jackson’s work.