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Shirley Jackson
Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer, known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Source: [Shirley Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Jackson) on Wikipedia.
The Haunting of Hill House
Synopsis
Dr. John Montague, a scholar of the supernatural, rents Hill House for a summer to study its notorious reputation, inviting a small group of assistants he believes may be sensitive to its influence. Among them is Eleanor Vance, a lonely, fragile young woman who has spent years caring for her invalid mother and who has never truly belonged anywhere. For Eleanor, the strange, wrong-angled house feels, unnervingly, like the first place that has ever wanted her.
As the group settles in, Hill House begins to make itself known through cold spots, pounding in the night, and messages that seem addressed to Eleanor alone. Shirley Jackson keeps the horror ambiguous, leaving the reader uncertain whether the house is haunted or whether Eleanor's own mind is coming apart, and letting the two possibilities feed each other.
First published in 1959, The Haunting of Hill House is one of the most influential ghost stories ever written and a masterclass in psychological dread. Restrained, elegant, and deeply unsettling, it locates its terror less in what appears than in loneliness, longing, and the fear of being unwanted.
Genres
Characters
Eleanor VanceProtagonist
A thirty-two-year-old woman who spent eleven years nursing her invalid mother and has never had a place of her own.
Luke SandersonSupporting
The idle young heir to Hill House, sent by his family to keep an eye on the investigation.
Dr. John MontagueSupporting
A doctor of philosophy studying psychic phenomena, who rents Hill House and assembles the group.
Theodora (Hill House)Supporting
A vivid, bohemian artist with apparent psychic sensitivity who becomes Eleanor's companion and rival. Jackson gives her no surname.
Mrs. Montague (Hill House)Supporting
Dr. Montague's overbearing wife, who arrives partway through convinced she can reach the house's spirit with a planchette.
Frequently asked questions
Did The Haunting of Hill House win any awards?
It was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1960. It did not win, but the nomination cemented its reputation as one of the most influential haunted-house novels ever written.
Is the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House a direct adaptation of the book?
No. Mike Flanagan's 2018 Netflix series borrows the title, the house, and character surnames from Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel but tells a largely original story about a family, not Jackson's small group of paranormal investigators. The novel has also been adapted twice as a film titled The Haunting (1963 and 1999).