Shirley Jackson

Classic has unnerved readers since 1959. A tale of subtle psychological terror.

The Haunting of Hill House

The greatest haunted house story ever written, the inspiration for a 10-part Netflix series directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy Hutton 

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a haunting; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers--and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. 

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Jing Yi

In the unending, crashing second before the car hurled ato the tree she thought clearly, Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Why don't they stop me?

“No physical danger exists,” the doctor said positively. "No ghost in all the long histories of ghosts has ever hurt anyone physically. The only damage done is by the victim to himself.

Now I can think about them; I am all alone. Why is Luke here? But why am I here? Journeys end in lovers neeting. They all saw that I was afraid

It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope.

NO LIVE organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream

Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by Academy Award-winning director of The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro Filmmaker and longtime horror literature fan Guillermo del Toro serves as the curator for the Penguin Horror series, a new collection of classic tales and poems by masters of the genre. Included here are some of del Toro's favorites, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ray Russell's short story "Sardonicus," considered by Stephen King to be "perhaps the finest example of the modern Gothic ever written," to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and stories by Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Ted Klein, and Robert E. Howard. Featuring original cover art by Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley, these stunningly creepy deluxe hardcovers will be perfect additions to the shelves of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal aficionados everywhere. The Haunting of Hill House The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre. First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting;' Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers--and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

[...] and whatever walked there, walked alone.

"The slightest air of disbelief offends it, naturally. How would you feel if people refused to believe in you?"

I am like a small creature swallowed whole by a monster, she thought, and the monster feels my tiny little movements inside.

"People leave this town," he said. "They don't come here."

"He was right," she said finally. "They go away, the lucky ones."

dina

Journeys end in lovers meeting; I have spent an all but sleepless night, I have told lies and made a fool of myself, and the very air tastes like wine. I have been frightened half out of my foolish wits, but I have somehow earned this joy; I have been waiting for it for so long. Abandoning a lifelong belief that to name happiness is to dissipate it.

"I've never been away from anywhere," Eleanor said carefully, "so I suppose I've never been homesick."

"Perhaps," Eleanor said, looking into the fire, "I haven't had it long enough to believe it's my own."

Lying in the blue bed, looking up the dim ceiling with its remote carved pattern, she asked herself, half asleep still, What did I do; did I make a fool of myself? Were they laughing at me?

Thinking quickly over the evening before, she could remember only that she had—must have—seemed foolishly, childishly contented, almost happy; had the others been amused to see that she was so simple? I said silly things, she told herself, and of course they noticed. Today I will be more reserved, less openly grateful to all of them for having me.

People like answering questions about themselves, she thought; what an odd pleasure it is. I would answer anything right now.

What a complete and separate thing I am, she thought, going from my red toes to the top of my head, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me.

The greatest haunted house story ever written, the inspiration for a 10-part Netflix series directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy Hutton First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

karissa🌙

...insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again.

Four seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Luke, the adventurous future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. As they begin to cope with chilling, even horrifying occurrences beyond their control or understanding, they cannot possibly know what lies ahead. For Hill House is gathering its powers � and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

Anna Oeltjenbruns

“Yes,” he said. “I never had a mother, as I told you. Now I find that everyone else has had something that I missed." He smiled at her. "I am entirely selfish, he said ruefully, “and always hoping that someone will tell me to behave, someone will make herself responsible for me and make me be grown-up." 

He is altogether selfish, she thought in some surprise, the only man I have ever sat and talked to alone, and I am impatient; he is simply not very interesting "Why don't you grow up by yourself?” she asked him, and wondered how many people -how many women- had already asked him that.

“You’re clever.” And how many times had he answered that way?

Eliana Ramirez 

“Fear is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway,”

Silje Løvli Lorentsen

(...) and Eleanor thought with deep satisfaction that her feet were handsome in their red sandals; what a complete and separate thing I am, she thought, going from my red toes to the top of my head, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me. I have red shoes, she thought-that goes with being Eleanor; I dislike lobster and sleep on my left side and crack my knuckles when I am nervous and save buttons. I am holding a brandy glass which is mine because I am here and I am using it and I have a place in this room. I have red shoes and tomorrow I will wake up and I will still be here.

"It was said that the older sister was crossed in love," the doctor agreed, "although that is said of almost any lady who prefers, for whatever reason, to live alone".

This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.

No human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hil House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice. 

She nearly stopped forever just outside Ashton, because she came to a tiny cottage buried in a garden. I could live there all alone, she thought, slowing the car to look down the winding garden path to the small blue front door with, perfectly, a white cat on the step. No one would ever find me there, either, behind all those roses, and just to make sure I would plant oleanders by the road. I will light a fire in the cool evenings and toast apples at my own hearth. I will raise white cats and sew white curtains for the windows and sometimes come out of my door to go to the store to buy cinnamon and tea and thread.

Das war mein erstes Shirley Jackson Buch, und ich bin mit keiner großartigen Vorstellung rein gegangen. 

Am Anfang hat es mich gestört, dass einfach nichts gruseliges passiert ist, aber man muss weiterlesen bis zur Mitte und dann nimmt alles seinen Lauf. 

Die Geschichte erzählt von einem Professor, der die paranormalen Aktivitäten in Hill House untersuchen möchte. Dafür lädt er bestimmte Personen ein, die schon einmal in ihrem Leben was außergewöhnliches erlebt haben. Es sind letzendlich zwei Frauen, und der Erbe des Hauses im Haus mit dem Professor. Und man begleitet diese. 

Ich hab das Buch sehr genossen zu lesen. Es gab viele Dinge, die mir gefallen haben. Und zwar einmal die Erzählperspektive, denn es wurde eigentlich von einem Allwissenden Erzähler erzählt, aber dennoch bekam man noch dazu intensiv die Perspektive Eleanors (Protagonistin, eine der zwei Frauen), weil es hieß so (zum Beispiel): „I make a fool of myself.“ She thought. So hab ich das noch nie gelesen. Und einmal überhaupt generell diese Geschichte, also man bekam die Perspektive von Eleanor, und sie ist so eine unzuverlässige Erzählerin, also man weis nicht, ob ihre Perspektive und ihre Wahrnehmung wirklich der Wahrheit entspricht, du kannst ihr nicht trauen. Es wirkt alles so komisch und skurril. Die Autorin spielt sehr mit den Gedanken der Leser. Man denkt die ganze Zeit mit, was das alles zu bedeuten hat, wessen Wahrnehmung wahr ist und stellt so viele Theorien auf. Aber letztendlich bleibt alles offen, jeder kann sich selbst seine eigene Geschichte zu der Geschichte ausdenken. 

Was ich auch noch so gut fand sind die Charaktere. Also erstmal, die beiden Männer blieben für mich eher so durchsichtig, während die beiden Frauen sehr stark im Vordergrund waren. Shirley Jackson hat eine Figur geschaffen, die genau die Situation der Frau damals zu ihrer Zeit darstellen soll. Ich denke, die ganze Geschichte geht eigentlich nur um diese innere Welt einer Frau zu der Zeit, wo man die Psyche der Frau nicht ernst genommen hat, wo es Diagnosen für Frauen gab wie Hysterie, obwohl es eindeutig Depressionen waren. Es geht um die Einsamkeit der Frau, um den Wunsch nach Wertschätzung und Geborgenheit, aber auch nach der Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Autonomie. Genau das hat für mich Eleanor dargestellt, der misslungene Versuch einer Frau nach dem Leben zu greifen. 

Ich denke ich werde lange noch an Eleanor denken müssen. 

Mariam Raji

Das war mein erstes Shirley Jackson Buch, und ich bin mit keiner großartigen Vorstellung rein gegangen. 

Am Anfang hat es mich gestört, dass einfach nichts gruseliges passiert ist, aber man muss weiterlesen bis zur Mitte und dann nimmt alles seinen Lauf. 

Die Geschichte erzählt von einem Professor, der die paranormalen Aktivitäten in Hill House untersuchen möchte. Dafür lädt er bestimmte Personen ein, die schon einmal in ihrem Leben was außergewöhnliches erlebt haben. Es sind letzendlich zwei Frauen, und der Erbe des Hauses im Haus mit dem Professor. Und man begleitet diese. 

Ich hab das Buch sehr genossen zu lesen. Es gab viele Dinge, die mir gefallen haben. Und zwar einmal die Erzählperspektive, denn es wurde eigentlich von einem Allwissenden Erzähler erzählt, aber dennoch bekam man noch dazu intensiv die Perspektive Eleanors (Protagonistin, eine der zwei Frauen), weil es hieß so (zum Beispiel): „I make a fool of myself.“ She thought. So hab ich das noch nie gelesen. Und einmal überhaupt generell diese Geschichte, also man bekam die Perspektive von Eleanor, und sie ist so eine unzuverlässige Erzählerin, also man weis nicht, ob ihre Perspektive und ihre Wahrnehmung wirklich der Wahrheit entspricht, du kannst ihr nicht trauen. Es wirkt alles so komisch und skurril. Die Autorin spielt sehr mit den Gedanken der Leser. Man denkt die ganze Zeit mit, was das alles zu bedeuten hat, wessen Wahrnehmung wahr ist und stellt so viele Theorien auf. Aber letztendlich bleibt alles offen, jeder kann sich selbst seine eigene Geschichte zu der Geschichte ausdenken. 

Was ich auch noch so gut fand sind die Charaktere. Also erstmal, die beiden Männer blieben für mich eher so durchsichtig, während die beiden Frauen sehr stark im Vordergrund waren. Shirley Jackson hat eine Figur geschaffen, die genau die Situation der Frau damals zu ihrer Zeit darstellen soll. Ich denke, die ganze Geschichte geht eigentlich nur um diese innere Welt einer Frau zu der Zeit, wo man die Psyche der Frau nicht ernst genommen hat, wo es Diagnosen für Frauen gab wie Hysterie, obwohl es eindeutig Depressionen waren. Es geht um die Einsamkeit der Frau, um den Wunsch nach Wertschätzung und Geborgenheit, aber auch nach der Sehnsucht nach Freiheit und Autonomie. Genau das hat für mich Eleanor dargestellt, der misslungene Versuch einer Frau nach dem Leben zu greifen. 

Ich denke ich werde lange noch an Eleanor denken müssen. 

i wish i had read this before seeing the show. spent most of the time reading this book trying to figure out what exactly was going and i don’t think i’ll ever know…

 enjoyed it, sped through it in like a day. will definitely read again 

Esther Marie Mann 

i wish i had read this before seeing the show. spent most of the time reading this book trying to figure out what exactly was going and i don’t think i’ll ever know…

 enjoyed it, sped through it in like a day. will definitely read again 

Emiley Jones

Spooky and sad and so very Shirley Jackson

Emily Lucie

I will say this book was completely different from the tv series. Instead a paranormal scientist invites a group of open minded people to Hill House to investigate the paranormal activities. I found myself very confused the entire time but I think that was supposed to be the point. Having the story be the POV of the one who is falling for the madness of Hill House was a good choice but left me a bit confused at parts. It was creepy but not as scary as I thought considering I have heard this book is the best scary story about a haunted house.  

Leah Diaz 

When four seekers arrive at a notorious old mansion, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own.

I was told that the Netflix series (which I haven’t seen) is nearly a complete departure from the book, and I can see why. 

 horror, wherein so much of the terror arises directly from the writing. Many of the visuals, even back in the sixties, were effective but nothing that hadn’t been dreamt up before. But it’s the way these visuals reveal themselves within your mind’s eye, the way discoveries and events unfold on the page, that shocks. The choice of what to describe and what to leave up to imagination; the unreliable, nightmarish narration that seamlessly slips in and out of concrete reality; the descriptions that leave you off-kilter before sending chills throughout your body; it’s not what unfolds, but how it unfolds. 

We do follow lively characters in a vivid setting, and it’s a funny, heartbreaking story with many layers waiting to unfold. But it’s Jackson’s prose that takes this from very good to a masterpiece.

Michael Klepacki

I was told that the Netflix series (which I haven’t seen) is nearly a complete departure from the book, and I can see why. Hill House is is a perfect bit of literary horror, wherein so much of the terror arises directly from the writing. Many of the visuals, even back in the sixties, were effective but nothing that hadn’t been dreamt up before. But it’s the way these visuals reveal themselves within your mind’s eye, the way discoveries and events unfold on the page, that shocks. The choice of what to describe and what to leave up to imagination; the unreliable, nightmarish narration that seamlessly slips in and out of concrete reality; the descriptions that leave you off-kilter before sending chills throughout your body; it’s not what unfolds, but how it unfolds. 

We do follow lively characters in a vivid setting, and it’s a funny, heartbreaking story with many layers waiting to unfold. But it’s Jackson’s prose that takes this from very good to a masterpiece.

Regan Martin

How can this book be BOTH a delight AND scary as shit????

Margo Koss

Loved the way this story unraveled to its end.

Emily McMeans

I had to force myself to finish. I felt so bored and it felt like nothing really happened until the last 30 pages or so. I enjoyed being in Eleanor’s mind and I understand her feeling of not having a place to fit in, unfortunately that alone wasn’t enough for me to enjoy the book

Alex

An anthropologist conducts an unusual research project in a reputedly haunted house

i need to reread and analyse immediately 

mara

Katerina

This was surprisingly boring and not at all scary. And somehow it did not answer any of the questions it kept on bringing throughout the whole book. Like literally not one mystery around Hill House was ever explained. 

And that ending, god. It didn’t hit any level of satisfaction that you’ve reached the end. Perhaps the only good thing you feel is that you’re finally done with it. 

Can someone explain to me how is this a horror classic again? Anyone?

anna g

Really wishing I hadn’t seen the Netflix version of this before reading the book- Shirley Jackson’s writing is so much subtler than anything produced by Netflix. Beautiful & haunting & genuinely did scare me. I will be thinking of Eleanor & Theodora forever now.

Patrick Book

Jackson’s talent is on full display, but this barely qualifies as spooky let alone terrifying. Call me desensitized, I guess!

Mat Connor

Shirley Jackson is one of the best writers at creating a sense of dread and anxiety. She's also got a dark sense of humour that probably gets less attention than it should. Your mileage may vary, but I could see people finding this less scary than expected.

I'm actually not a big horror fan, but I found a lot to appreciate here. It's not quite as good as We Have Always Lived in the Castle. If anyone is a little disappointed in The Haunting of Hill House I still recommend giving Castle a try.

Really interesting. So different from the show that without the same title they could be two totally unrelated stories.

I enjoyed it. Jackson’s writing has a very particular style.

Jillian Roberts

Really interesting. So different from the show that without the same title they could be two totally unrelated stories.

I enjoyed it. Jackson’s writing has a very particular style.

Linta

having seen the show before I had thought that the book would be similar but to my surprise it wasn’t. The book itself was good, there were horror elements in it which I enjoyed although at times I felt like I didn’t understand what was going on.
 Overall I enjoyed it, I might pick other books of Shirley

kelsey

went into this not knowing it was nothing like the show. but i still fairly enjoyed it! i wish the suspense built up a little quicker but the last two chapters were worth the wait. 

except for the introduction of mrs montague and arthur that’s my only complaint. they were awful characters

read this because i enjoyed the netflix series but it’s so diff!! in a good way i think, here the inhabitants of hill house are more afraid of the house itself than what’s in the house which was interesting. i sympathized with eleanor, even though the house may have possessed her in some way, her desire to stay in the house is quite justified. she is so classic lonely girl, who can finally do what she wants to, who just wants to belong somewhere with someone, so when that’s taken away from her it’s too unbearable. and like the inhabitants throughout the book i’ve been waiting for something to happen, until something did happen to eleanor, the chosen one ig ~ 

Riley Bell

I really enjoyed the book despite it being short. I did get several creepy vibes but it wasn’t nearly as scary as the Netflix adaptation. The ending was very good but did feel a bit abrupt and rushed. I wish I knew more about the other characters and their own pasts but their dynamic with each other was interesting, especially with Eleanor and Theodora. The House itself was extremely intriguing. Would recommend to anyone looking for something easy to read during the Halloween season!

The greatest haunted house story ever written, the inspiration for a 10-part Netflix series directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy Hutton First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Sarah Sammis

Shirley Jackson's novel is a horror story with no ghost. There is a death and talk of death but there are no ghosts. While the book opens with Dr. Montague finding the perfect house to test his theories on the supernatural. He sends letters to invite a number of candidates to spend time with him in the house. A small group of people accept his invitation. These introductory pages go into their reasons for agreeing.


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Privileged	Uhoria	Blue Highway	00CC33 (book) vs Family	Uhoria	Maze	33CCCC (TV show)

Lindy

I can't believe I went 24 years of my life without knowing this book is lesbian.

The Haunting of Hill House

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