Try free for 30 days

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle cover art

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

By: Shirley Jackson
Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $19.46

Buy Now for $19.46

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

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.

Critic Reviews

“At certain moments, quietly, in quick, subtle transitions of tone, Miss Jackson can summon up stark terror, make your blood chill and your scalp prickle....To all the classic paraphernalia of the spook story, she adds a touch of Freud….” ( New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    96
  • 4 Stars
    45
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    109
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    88
  • 4 Stars
    42
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    7

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lonely but beautiful

Not sure why people call it creepy, maybe my level of creepy is higher than others. It's a lovely sad little story that is filled with melancholy. A nice short piece of work I listened too while painting a mural. 10/10 would recommend for any style of literary fan

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

This was stunning. Complex and moving and the narrator did an incredible job of bringing each character to life. Really extraordinary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pretty Good

I find some of her short stories from Lottery and Other Stories stronger in quality, but you’ll find very consistently strong writing over the entirety of this novel.
Also one of the best narrative performances I’ve encountered. Well done, Bernadette!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

An odd little story

worth a listen but buy it on sale as it's not worth a full credit.b

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Book club book

I read this for book club and can’t say I “enjoyed” it. I found her world disturbing and chilling and the overall darkness uncomfortable - I didn’t like being inside Mary Kats mind. Just not my cup of tea, really.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Don’t waste your time!

Welp that was boring & a waste of time. I expected good things to this book but there’s no point to the story? Some lines were repetitive in each chapter as well, like we get it - the mockings, the stories, the bloody scarf. Don’t believe the hype, skip this book. Great narration though, the only good thing about this audiobook.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

odd story that ended nowhere

I read rave reviews about this but I found it odd, boring and plotless. I love odd but not when there’s nothing good to back it up. I liked the characters and the way it was written, but kept thinking I must have missed something about the storyline once it was finished. Lots of ramblings about every day life and not enough about the murders or any enough explanation. It just didn’t hit the mark for me.

I really enjoyed the narration. That was done extremely well and probably what kept me listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful and enchanting

I loved this book. The narration was perfect and captured the tone and feel of the book perfectly. Shirley Jackson's books can be such an interesting mix of ordinariness and horror. I think that this is my favorite of all.
I intend to listen to it again soon. I'm sure it's the kind of book that only gets better with multiple listens.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Average.

I had high hopes for this book after its recommendation. It was really dull and nihilistic. Not overly impressed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great!

A nice little story. Characters are likeable. Very well written and narrated. The ending is open to interpretation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.