Classics on the Side: The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson

“Classics on the Side” is an additional, informal book club meet-up, which focuses on older and classic works from the sci-fi and fantasy genres. To see the Classics on the Side booklists, visit our Goodreads account: https://www.goodreads.com/classics_on_the_side_kc

Join us to discuss “The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson. This gothic psychological horror novel was published in 1959. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and cited by Stephen King as one of the finest horror novels of the 20th Century.

Book synopsis from Amazon:

Dr Montague, a scientific investigator of ghostly phenomena, has chosen to live for several weeks at Hill House, by repute a place of horror that will brook no human habitation. To check and contribute to his observations, he selects three companions previously unknown to him; two girls, Theo and Eleanor, and Luke, a young man, who is heir to Hill House. What happens cannot, in fairness, be told. But Dr Montague’s words were prophetic: ‘A ghost cannot hurt anyone; only the fear of ghosts can be dangerous.’ Whether the ghosts at Hill House caused the fear, or the fear created the ghosts, there were such manifestations as to produce, finally, an ultimate terror that was all too palpable and down-to-earth.