
Let Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle cast a spell on you. With an afterword by Donna Tartt written exclusively for this illustrated Folio Society edition.
Shirley Jackson
Illustrated by Angie Hoffmeister
Introduced by Ruth Franklin
Over Two-Thirds Sold
Limited to just 250 copies, this Folio edition of The Lottery and Other Dark Tales features 20 of Shirley Jackson’s most unsettling stories, an introduction by Ruth Franklin, and haunting illustrations by Angie Hoffmeister.
Editor’s Note
- James Rose, Editor
Poisoned-pen letters, unsettling motels, fractured marriages and missing girls abound in Shirley Jackson’s carefully constructed stories of small-town America and the underlying darkness beneath the domesticity. With the publication of ‘The Lottery’ in 1948, Jackson created a moral panic (as well as giving the world one of the greatest short stories in American literature) and revealed a style that breathes a building sense of dread, discomfort and eerie paranoia with each sentence.
Illustrated by the evocative and atmospheric ink and watercolours of Angie Hoffmeister, including a special giclée print of the author, this edition is accompanied by a new introduction by Jackson's biographer Ruth Franklin, who explores the author's themes of isolation and desire. This exclusive selection of stories contains many of Jackson’s most well-known and applauded works, as well as some lesser-known pieces that display her ability to create atmosphere, suspense, and, ultimately, to shock.
288 pages
Set in Arno
Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations, including 3 double page spreads
Bound in screen-printed and blocked cloth
Silver gilded top edge
Integrated illustrated black and white tailpieces
Metallic blocked endpapers
Clamshell box with central magnetic opening, covered in printed paper
Print for framing printed on Natural Evolution paper
8¾˝ x 5½˝
Printed in Italy
‘One of the most famous short stories of the twentieth century, and surely one of the most wicked of any.’
- Donna Tartt
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Other Dark Tales invites readers into a world where the mundane twists into the macabre. From the chilling ritual of the titular story to unsettling explorations of paranoia, cruelty, and societal decay, Jackson masterfully reveals the darkness lurking beneath everyday life. Each tale is a razor-sharp examination of human nature, filled with eerie atmospheres and haunting revelations.
This collection cements Jackson’s place as a literary pioneer, crafting unforgettable stories that linger long after the final sentence.
Selected stories are:
The Lottery
The Daemon Lover
The Possibility of Evil
Louisa, Please Come Home
Paranoia
The Honeymoon of Mrs Smith
The Story We Used to Tell
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Jack the Ripper
The Beautiful Stranger
All She Said Was Yes
What a Thought
The Bus
Family Treasures
A Visit
The Good Wife
The Man in the Woods
Home
The Summer People
The Missing Girl
About Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson (1918–65) was one of the greatest American gothic writers of the 20th century – an heir to the tradition of Hawthorne and Poe. Jackson was brought up in California and educated in Syracuse, New York, where she met the man she would marry. The couple settled in North Bennington, Vermont, where Jackson spent the last 20 years of her life. Her career writing short stories was lucrative, and for some time she was highly regarded as the author of Life Among the Savages (1952), a witty fictionalised memoir about life as a mother; but this work has now been eclipsed by Jackson’s reputation as the author of horror and ghost-story masterpieces such as the controversial short work ‘The Lottery’ (1948, Folio 2025) and the novels The Haunting of Hill House (1959, Folio 2022) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962, Folio 2023).
About Ruth Franklin
Ruth Franklin is an award-winning literary critic, biographer, and author celebrated for her insightful writing on 20th-century literature. Her biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (2016) won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Edgar Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, establishing her as a leading biographer. Franklin’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, and The New York Review of Books, where she is known for her eloquent criticism. Her writing often explores themes of identity, trauma, and creativity, shedding light on overlooked authors and the complexities of their work.
About Angie Hoffmeister
Angie Hoffmeister (born in Quedlinburg, Germany, in 1989) is an illustrator and printmaker based in Düsseldorf, where she was educated at the Kunstakademie. She uses a range of media – including drypoint, pencil and watercolour – she has also illustrated a number of graphic novels.
Let Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle cast a spell on you. With an afterword by Donna Tartt written exclusively for this illustrated Folio Society edition.
The Folio Society presents a bewitching limited edition of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Illustrated by Angie Hoffmeister and with a brilliant new afterword by Donna Tartt, this edition is limited to just 500 copies and has been signed by both contributors.
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