We Have Always Lived in the Castle
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Narrated by:
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Bernadette Dunne
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Written by:
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Shirley Jackson
About this listen
Shirley Jackson’s deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family takes readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, macabre humor, and gothic atmosphere.
Six years after four family members died suspiciously of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods—elder, agoraphobic sister Constance; wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian; and eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine, or, Merricat—live together in pleasant isolation. Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic to guard the estate against intrusions from hostile villagers. But one day a stranger arrives—cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune—and manages to penetrate into their carefully shielded lives. Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods, resulting in crisis, tragedy, and the revelation of a terrible secret.
Jackson’s novel emerges less as a study in eccentricity and more—like some of her other fictions—as a powerful critique of the anxious, ruthless processes involved in the maintenance of normalcy itself.
©1962 Shirley Jackson (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.You may also enjoy...
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I really don't get the appeal.
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In the summer of 1994, psychologist Daniel Hill buys a rustic farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills of West Virginia. Along with his wife and teenage daughter, the family uproots their lives in Ohio and moves south. They are initially seduced by the natural beauty of the country setting. That soon changes when they discover a hidden room in the basement with a well, boarded shut and adorned with crucifixes. Local legends about the previous owner being an exorcist come to light, but by then, all Hell has broken loose.
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I LOVED this book
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For over 20 years, Belasco House has stood empty. Regarded as the Mt. Everest of haunted houses, its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. All previous attempts to probe its mysteries have ended in murder, suicide, or insanity.
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Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort—a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny", and seem to move and speak as one. But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon"....
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Confused
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- Unabridged
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Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House.
-
-
I really don't get the appeal.
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A Short Stay in Hell
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- Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
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Story
An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he'll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life. In this haunting existential novella, author, philosopher, and ecologist Steven L. Peck explores a subversive vision of eternity.
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I LOVED this book
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Hell House
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Overall
-
Performance
-
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For over 20 years, Belasco House has stood empty. Regarded as the Mt. Everest of haunted houses, its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. All previous attempts to probe its mysteries have ended in murder, suicide, or insanity.
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Mostly just gross and unsettling
- By Erica on 2019-01-25
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- Written by: Iain Reid
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Overall
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When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania. What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
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Good Story, Disappointing Narration
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Story
Ein Meisterwerk des psychologischen Schreckens. "A Head Full of Ghosts" schildert auf mehreren Zeit- und Personenebenen die Erlebnisse der 14-jährigen Marjorie. Als sie Anzeichen einer Geisteskrankheit zeigt, gipfelt die Hilflosigkeit ihrer Familie und der Ärzte in einem Exorzismus, der als Show live im TV ausgeschlachtet wird. Jahre später gibt Merry, die jüngere Schwester von Marjorie, ein Interview und spricht über die tragischen und unheimlichen Geschehnisse, die seither zur urbanen Legende wurden.
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Four decades after it first shook the nation, then the world, William Peter Blatty's thrilling masterwork of faith and demonic possession returns in an even more powerful form. Raw and profane, shocking and blood-chilling, it remains a modern parable of good and evil and perhaps the most terrifying novel ever written.
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A collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories was first published in 1979 and awarded the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize. This Audible exclusive adaptation is narrated by legendary actors, Richard Armitage and Emilia Fox, who take on different chapters of the audiobook. Among these are 'The Bloody Chamber', 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', 'The Tiger's Bride', 'Puss in Boots', 'The Erl-King', 'The Snow Child', 'The Lady of the House of Love', 'The Werewolf' and 'Wolf-Alice'.
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f*ck me up, Carter
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A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company. It’s the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends, brought back together to celebrate a wedding. A night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested. But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.
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Fantastically Creepy
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The Bird's Nest
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Elizabeth is a demure 23-year-old wiling her life away at a dull museum job, living with her neurotic aunt, and subsisting off her dead mother’s inheritance. When Elizabeth begins to suffer terrible migraines and backaches, her aunt takes her to the doctor, then to a psychiatrist. But slowly, and with Jackson’s characteristic chill, we learn that Elizabeth is not just one girl - but four separate, self-destructive personalities.
Written by: Shirley Jackson, and others
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.
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enjoyable
- By Genevieve Paquette on 2021-02-08
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Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death. A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s - a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires. What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
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Do not listen to this book
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Ghost Story
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" ( Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.
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The narrator has never met a woman
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Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro’s hit movie Pan’s Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for listeners of all ages, with enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world.
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C'était très bien lu!
- By Customer on 2024-11-18
Written by: Guillermo del Toro, and others
What the critics say
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What listeners say about We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Rosemarie Gerow
- 2022-06-07
A must “read” for Shirley Jackson fans
One of my favourites. I used to read it every summer but my eyes are failing so I was very happy to see it here. If you love anything by Shirley Jackson you will love this.
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- Anonymous User
- 2020-08-05
Now what?
Overall, this was a well written story and very interesting I have never read anything like it but there are a couple of unanswered questions that I wished were clarified... the book has a very anti-climactic ending so that’s a little disappointing but it’s funny to read during quarantine since were all staying in our houses.
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- Karen W. Lam
- 2022-06-26
Wonderfully Macabre
I forgot I had purchased this audiobook and am so happy to finally listen to it. A dark fairytale highlighting the monstrous hearts of “good people.” It reminds me how much I love Shirley Jackson’s writing. Recommended for anyone who has ever read and loved The Lottery and wondered what else this talented author has written.
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-12-23
Amazing!
Fantastic! I was mesmerized by both the story, and the performance. Jackson's last novel is truly amazing.
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- Tee Aye
- 2021-02-17
It's a good story, just very little pay off.
read if you like, it's not a bad read by any means... but the ending just kind of ends and nothing really makes you feel that final "yes!" moment.
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- Mystery McCarthy
- 2021-09-13
Very Well Written, Worth Reading, But Not Scary
I am giving five stars for the excellent writing skill of Shirley Jackson. I do have to mention that if not for this skill, I would only give this four stars, because the story isn't spooky. It just isn't. Disturbing, yes a little messed up, but not up to the hype of it being a scary story. Maybe folks were easier to scare back when? Definitely worth reading, but just don't expect to feel the need to check the closet or under the bed before you go to sleep.
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- Zara
- 2021-06-12
Amazing book
The storyline is absolutely astonishing and it’s not extremely hard to read. The metaphors are just complex enough to grasp quickly.
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- Anonymous User
- 2024-10-22
Good but slow
It was alright, it was not quite the "horror" I was going for. It was dark with themes of mental instability, mystery, isolation and suspense. An interesting story but I felt the climax wasn't a little anticlimactic and the ending was okay. A little underwhelmed, still good!
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- Karen
- 2017-12-26
Atmospheric
Big on atmosphere, light on outright horror. I enjoyed the story very much. I was intrigued by the characters and I felt the narration truly did them justice. From what I understand, it is somewhat, slightly autobiographical.
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- Russ Osain
- 2019-04-12
Superb
Well read and very immersive. Definitely good and comforting to listen to. I felt engrossed in the story.
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