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by Shirley Jackson
I have always thought that the title of a book bears a resemblance to its content, not so with this, there was no mention of a castle anywhere, unless the family saw their home as a castle - remote from anywhere else.
Rich New England landowners, the Blackwood family, are well-aware of their presumed class-snobbish superiority over the inhabitants of the nearby village. They are met with distrust, fear and even hatred - not quite unfounded. Six years ago half of the members of the Blackwood family were poisoned by arsenic in their food. Three remain: Uncle Julian, left crippled by the poison, hanging on to the remnants of his mind, obsessed with the tragedy of the day of the murder; Constance, an agoraphobiac trapped in the narrow confines of her domestic universe, cooking for the remnants of her family with a strained chirpy attitude was the cook on the day of the fateful poisoning and therefore is considered the poisoner in the eyes of the villagers; and Mary Katherine, Merricat, the narrator of the story, now eighteen, who was sent to her room without dinner on the day of the poisoning, and now serves as a link between her diminished and scorned family and the rest of the world. Merricat just wants to protect her family and preserve their delicate way of life.
But when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get his hands on the Blackwood fortune, the family is thrust into turmoil.
Rich New England landowners, the Blackwood family, are well-aware of their presumed class-snobbish superiority over the inhabitants of the nearby village. They are met with distrust, fear and even hatred - not quite unfounded. Six years ago half of the members of the Blackwood family were poisoned by arsenic in their food. Three remain: Uncle Julian, left crippled by the poison, hanging on to the remnants of his mind, obsessed with the tragedy of the day of the murder; Constance, an agoraphobiac trapped in the narrow confines of her domestic universe, cooking for the remnants of her family with a strained chirpy attitude was the cook on the day of the fateful poisoning and therefore is considered the poisoner in the eyes of the villagers; and Mary Katherine, Merricat, the narrator of the story, now eighteen, who was sent to her room without dinner on the day of the poisoning, and now serves as a link between her diminished and scorned family and the rest of the world. Merricat just wants to protect her family and preserve their delicate way of life.
But when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get his hands on the Blackwood fortune, the family is thrust into turmoil.
Despite no castle I did enjoy it!
∼ Happy Reading∼
Polly x
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