The wealthy Blackwood family has always lived apart from the people in the village, but the isolation became more extreme when, six years ago, more than half the family was poisoned at dinner. Constance, the eldest remaining daughter, was acquitted of the crime, but now lives in fear of leaving her home, and instead spends her days caring for her ailing Uncle Julian. The family's sole link to the outside world is teenage Mary Katherine ("Merricat") Blackwood, who ventures into the village for groceries and library books, if she is able to bear the taunts of the village children. Merricat wards herself through a series of spells and rituals designed to keep her family safe, but she knows those have failed when their estranged cousin Charles comes to visit, and begins sniffing around the family fortune.
I picked this up because it's one of my mom's favorite books, and she's been bugging me to read it for years. I'm glad I finally took the plunge! I knew Jackson's work from "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House, but this is more in line with the former. There are no supernatural elements, just "man's inhumanity to man" as my high school English teacher would say. Merricat narrates, and her own version of events is clearly skewed, giving the book a dark, surreal feeling that makes it a fast read. I listened to this on audio, and was mostly pleased with the narrator (she's a little too mature-sounding for 18-year-old Merricat, but she handles Constance, Charles, and Uncle Julian well). Highly recommended for people who like suspense and horror!
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