Shirley Jackson

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.

The Haunting of Hill House

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?

tonka

"Fear," the doctor said, "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."

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. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

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. 

It started again, as though it had been listening, waiting to hear their voices and what they said, to identify them, to know how well prepared they were against it, waiting to hear if they were afraid. So suddenly that Eleanor leaped back against the bed and Theodora gasped and cried out, the iron crash came against their door, and both of them lifted their eyes in horror, because the hammering was against the upper edge of the door, higher than either of them could reach, higher than Luke or the doctor could reach, and the sickening, degrading cold came in waves from whatever was outside the door. 

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.

For class. Was better than I thought it would be. Jackson does a good job at doing what she does. I think as a society we are all just sick of The Lottery and thus don’t give her enough attention. Probably would have rated it higher if read under better conditions

Emma Shamburg

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.

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.

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 ~ 

journeys 🏞🚗🛣 end 🚫⛔️🔚⬇️ in lovers 👫👩‍❤️‍👩🫂 meeting 🙂‍↕️👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰😫

baku

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.

Jason Lo

river

a lot funnier than i expected (in the beginning, at least)

“Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

The Haunting of Hill House is a great horror story, not just in the sense of terrifying paranormal manifestations or things that go bump in the night, but because of its sinister, penetrating psychological thrill. It is about the fear of unknown, as well as the fear of being the outsider (and the unbearable horror of finally belonging so completely to something so terrible).

It is a slow but sure descent into madness. The conversations are strange, like in dreams, that don't seem connected or logical, but that flow whimsically with a strange understanding when you surrender to its style.

It is so creepy, so remarkable, and so enjoyable.

Gracie Marsden

Maybe it's all the horror movies I've been watching, but this book really wasn't very scary at all. If anything, the ending was more sad and depressing than anything else. I was interested in the unreliable narrator, but I felt like there were too many loose ends left unexplained.

The Haunting of Hill House

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