I read this book seven years ago and found it intriguing, if not especially frightening. As we’re in spooky season, I decided to give it a second chance to impress me, before giving the book away. I often do this; re-read a book, and if I don’t absolutely love it and know I’ll read it again, then it finds a new home.

I won’t explain what the book is about, as I did that in my original review. However, there are some things I either missed the first time around, or didn’t put them in the review. For a start, for a short novel it does move slowly. Halfway through and they’ve only just had their first night at the house, and nothing ghostly happened. I found it difficult to understand the dynamics between all the characters. They’ve only just met, but are acting like they’re best friends. I think there is attraction between Eleanor (the protagonist, narrated in the third person) and Theodora, and it almost seems that Theodora’s rejection is a factor in Eleanor’s fate. Eleanor repeats, over and over, ‘journeys end in lovers meeting.’ I don’t know what that’s from, but it’s some kind of personal mantra. Something I did appreciate was the architectural element; the angles of the house all built slightly wrong, how its exterior is evil, the strange tower which Eleanor can’t go in. It still wasn’t too clear to me what happened, but perhaps if the mysteries were neatly wrapped up, the book would be less memorable. I said in my review that it’s almost a parody of the haunted house genre. I’m going further than that now; it’s a comedy. When the doctor’s wife arrives with her blustering companion, ready to comfort the spirits (who of course leave them alone) it becomes very amusing.

The doctor often mentions Borley Rectory, comparing it to Hill House, hoping for a lot of ghostly activity to boost his research. If you read about Borley, the apparent true story is scarier than anything that appears to be happening at Hill House. This may be where the doctor’s wife gets her beliefs about the monks and nuns whose spirits haunt the house, and an influence on her use of the planchette for spirit communication.

I have read another Shirley Jackson book since, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but I had quite mixed feelings about it, so I don’t know if I’ll read any more of her books.