Today’s newsletter concludes my review of Shirley Jackson’s less-known novels.

Shirley Jackson employed numerous iconic elements to create this darkly hilarious novel. Bits of Hansel and Gretel, Robinson Crusoe, Chicken Little, Lizzie Borden, the Book of Revelation, Jane Austen novels, and Greek tragedy join forces to portray a snobbish family preparing for the end of the world.

The Hallorans have just returned to their cloistered mansion after burying Lionel Halloran. His widow Marjorie claims...

Today’s newsletter continues my review of Shirley Jackson’s less-known novels.

The non-fiction story of Sybil came to mind while I was reading this one. That book and the movie it inspired created a sensation during the mid-1970s and established Sally Field as a great actress. But The Bird's Nest predates Sybil by two decades. It's a fascinating tale and one of the first one to deal with multiple personalities.

Elizabeth Richmond is a colorless, repressed young woman with a meaningless clerical...

Today’s newsletter continues my review of Shirley Jackson’s less-known novels.

Sometimes I wish there was a list of books titled “Read These Before You Die.” They would be books I’d never heard of before, but which spoke directly to my heart. Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman, published in 1951, is one of them.

Though lacking the high profile of The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the desperate emotional journey of Natalie Waite is equally engrossing. She...