Ruth Franklin on Shirley Jackson
This Day In History: Author Shirley Jackson was born on this day in 1916. She is best known for writing the "Haunting of Hill House" and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and "The Lottery" a detailed and deadpan description of a small New England town that takes part in an annual stoning of one of it's community members. She actually wrote The Lottery in a single morning, and many people wrote to her believing that the story was true.
She was raised in a family of Christian Scientists, and she would angrily recall her mother and grandmother praying over her little brother’s broken arm rather than taking him to a hospital. Her parents never attended her wedding because she married a Jew.
She had a huge library of witchcraft books, and she was fascinated by a book called "An Adventure" which details a true ghost story involving Marie Antoinette written by two academics. She was the inspiration for other writers, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Joyce Carol Oates.
The Ghost of Marie Antoinette at Petit Trianon by James H. Hyslop 1911
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-ghost-of-marie-antoinette-at-petit.html
The Lottery Shirley Jackson (Full Audiobook)
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson Full Audiobook
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