Shirley!!!!!

I knew I loved you from We Have Always Lived in the Castle and the Lottery. I was lukewarm on Hill House (time for a reread?) and did not know that you'd written more... But you had! And you wrote about mistaken identity, eerie time loops, people trapped in buildings and paintings and buses and towns, mistaken identities, unassuming murderers, and so much more!!

I was absolutely charmed and delighted and creeped out by this collection. The writing was gripping and covered in a veneer of innocence. My favorites were, in no particular order: "Louise, please come home", "the summer people", "the possibility of evil", and the one with the old woman and the small child soaked in the rain.

Conversely, there were some I enjoyed but had to look up because I wasn't clever enough to understand them the first time around. These included "the bus", "a visit", "jack the Ripper", and the one with Y trapped in the painting. This just showed me that 1) a reread will be necessary and 2) more exposure to gothic fiction is a must, because I want to get better at parsing the genre's conventions.

Recommended if you need some classic gothic short stories in your life (who doesn't?) and jive well with horror that leaves you feeling uncertain of what's (and who) is real. 4 very solid stars.

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/N13GyePhEvk