Thursday 18 September 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Ledger Studio
In September, we will be reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Alone in the world, Eleanor is delighted to take up Dr Montague’s invitation to spend a summer in the mysterious Hill House. Joining them are Theodora, an artistic ‘sensitive’, and Luke, heir to the house. But what begins as a light-hearted experiment is swiftly proven to be a trip into their darkest nightmares, and an investigation that one of their number may not survive.
Acclaimed as one of the finest ghost stories of the twentieth century and filmed twice as The Haunting, this is an unsettling examination of how fear can make us our own worst enemy.
The Haunting of Hill House is one of the classic haunted house stories, and was the inspiration for Mike Flanagan’s modern reimagining for Netflix in 2018. The novel is from the perspective of Eleanor, a young woman who so badly wants to escape her confined life that she accepts an invitation from an academic she has never met, to join a trip to Hill House. The house unsettles her from the start, as do the unfriendly staff, but Eleanor finds camaraderie with the others staying there. The four of them begin investigating the secrets of the house as an adventure, but soon begin to experience things that they cannot explain. As with so many good horror stories, the big question of the novel is what evil is in the house, and how much of the terror is what they have brought with them.
Some things we might discuss during our meeting are: loneliness, depictions of mental illness, family dynamics, queer subtext, and the house as setting.
Content notes for The Haunting of Hill House: Suicide, mental illness, hallucinations, depictions of violence, isolation, religious imagery.
All welcome! Book your free place online (booking is not required, but if you book in advance you can provide your access and dietary requirements)