Literary Fiction | Book Chatter

We Have Always Lived in the Castle
By Shirley Jackson
Penguin Classics, October 2006, 160pp.

The Short of It:

An odd little read.

The Rest of It:

Two sisters, Merricat and Constance Blackwood live in an old, dilapidated house called The Castle. They live there with their disabled Uncle Julian. Disabled from a freak poisoning “accident” that killed their entire family.

This family is hated by the villagers in town. The Blackwoods are odd, unable to fit in and ostracized whenever they show up in town for supplies. Merricat, the youngest endures the bullying with a watchful eye. As nasty as the townspeople are, they’re also a little bit afraid. No one wants to be around a family that damned near killed everyone at dinner. Do they?

The house is surrounded by Merricat’s idea of protection. Buried items, idols of some sort posted on a fence, all to keep the townspeople away. It’s rather “witchy” in nature and will keep you guessing.

To shake things up, Cousin Charles makes an appearance. An unwelcome appearance. Merricat despises him. Julian, not all together there, also takes to disliking him; continuously calling him the wrong name and insisting that people are dead when they are clearly alive. This is when we learn of Constance’s insufferable nature.

She really needs a good slap across the face. Cousin Charles mows over her, tries to sell the house out from under her and she just smiles and goes about her day. It’s all too much. Clearly Charles is not there to support their lives in any way.

Then, tragedy strikes. Yes, more tragedy. Here, the story gets very weird. I questioned whether these characters were even alive or if they were actually dead, but refused to leave The Castle.

Here’s what’s true:

Jackson does an amazing job depicting the isolation of these characters.
She creates some really strange characters. Annoying ones with quite the air of mystery about them. You wanna know more.
The house is a main character. Falling in on itself, damaged later on, in disrepair yet still called home.
Jackson’s handling of the villain/s in this story piqued my interest.
There is no cut and dry way of interpreting this story.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a literary classic. It should be experienced but not everyone will love it. In fact, I think most won’t like it at all. It was adapted to the big screen. I am curious to see how they interpret the story. I am discussing this with a group and my interpretation is quite different.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Ten Year Affair
By Erin Somers
Simon & Schuster, October 2025, 304pp.

The Short of It:

Compelling and thoughtful.

The Rest of It:

When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. Yet their connection grows stronger, and as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming—until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist. ~ from the publisher

I saw The Ten Year Affair on the Tournament of Books 2026 shortlist and was immediately intrigued. Luckily, I found it quickly on Libby and blew through it. It’s an amazing read in that you absolutely feel the conflict between these characters as well as the temptation. Oh boy, the temptation.

Cora is happily married to her husband. But is she really happy? Things have gotten rather safe. Her husband spends a lot of time smoking weed on the balcony while the kids sleep. The weed, well, it affects things in the bedroom. He’s struggling at work and she’s just miserable doing the same thing over and over both at work and at home.

Sam, is the dad of dads. His wife is an overachiever and very successful. He holds down the fort but is this his life now? Going to daddy and me classes and running the kids back and forth?

Sam and Cora end up at one of those baby and me classes and there is an instant attraction. Sam listens to Cora in the way that her husband does not. The two forge an immediate bond. Friendly, sweet. They decide to bring their significant others into the mix, signifying a platonic friendship, just looking for a little parental support.

That’s how it starts out.

Then, Cora begins to imagine an alternate reality. In that timeline, she and Sam are seeing each other. In the real world she refrains, they both do, but in that other timeline, things get serious pretty fast. The story bounces back and forth between the imagined timeline and what is actually happening until the two blur together and then there is only one timeline.

This is an intense read. Sam and Cora’s “relationship” spans ten years. Ten years of wishing, and hoping and then pulling the trigger. How does such a relationship affect these two families. How is it right, when two marriages are at stake? But it FEELS right. That’s the conflict. Erin Somers writes a story that has you going one way and then the other. Cora isn’t in the wrong. She’s not getting the attention she needs. And then, how could Cora do that? How could they start something while still fully involved with their spouses?

I would hazard to guess that anyone who has been married for say 15+ years or more, has experienced some of these feelings. Somers has created real, flawed, characters but ones that you root for even though what you are rooting for is potentially a marriage break-up. That’s conflict to the highest degree. If I had to assign a song to this book, it would be Depeche’s A Question of Lust.

Highly recommend. I went digging around to see what else she’s written and I see one other book, Stay Up with Hugo Best and I will for sure find a copy.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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