Jackson, Shirley

In this witty and warm memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont, Shirley Jackson exposes a domestic side in cheerful contrast to her quietly terrifying fiction. With a novelist's gift for character, an unfailing maternal instinct, and her signature humor, Jackson turns everyday family experiences into brilliant adventures.

Family life in the 1950's as told by Shirley Jackson who tells the tale of her four children as they grow up while she (a faculty wife and a brilliant writer) deals with moving to a new house, endless clutter, and Little League.

The members of the eccentric Halloran family, having gathered at a gothic mansion for a funeral, are faced with the prospect of spending eternity with people they dislike when they are informed that the world is going to end and they alone will be spared.

"Pepper Street is a really nice, safe California neighborhood. The houses are tidy and the lawns are neatly mowed. Of course, the country club is close by, and lots of pleasant folks live there. The only problem is they knocked down the wall at the end of the street to make way for a road to a new housing development. Now, that's not good, it's just not good at all"--Publisher.

"Seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite longs to escape home for college. Her father is a domineering and egotistical writer who keeps a tight rein over Natalie and her long-suffering mother. When Natalie finally does get away, however, college life doesn't bring the happiness she expected. She becomes infatuated with a married professor and feels lost and overwhelmed. Little by little, Natalie is no longer certain of anything--even where reality ends and her dark imaginings begin"--Back cover.

Contains a selection of writings by twentieth-century American author Shirley Jackson, including sixteen short stories, three lectures delivered at colleges and writers' conferences, and the novel "Come Along with Me," which was unfinished at the time of Jackson's death in 1965.