Hangsaman

<p>Shirley Jackson's <i>Hangsaman</i> is a story of lurking disquiet and haunting disorientation inspired by the real-life unsolved disappearance of a female college student.<br><br>'Shirley Jackson's stories are among the most terrifying ever written' Donna Tartt author of <i>The Goldfinch</i><br><br>Natalie Waite daughter of a mediocre writer and a neurotic housewife is increasingly unsure of her place in the world. In the midst of adolescence she senses a creeping darkness in her life which will spread among nightmarish parties poisonous college cliques and the manipulations of the intellectual men who surround her as her identity gradually crumbles.<br><br>This Penguin edition includes a Foreword by Francine Prose.<br><br>Shirley Jackson's chilling tales have the power to unsettle and terrify unlike any other. She was born in California in 1916. When her short story <i>The Lottery </i>was first published in <i>The New Yorker</i> in 1948 readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the greatest American stories of all time. Her first novel <i>The Road Through the Wall</i> was published in the same year and was followed by five more: <i>Hangsaman</i> <i>The Bird's Nest</i> <i>The Sundial</i> <i>The Haunting of Hill House </i>and <i>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</i> widely seen as her masterpiece. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep at the age of 48.<br><br>'An amazing writer' Neil Gaiman<br><br>'The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable ... It is a place where things are not what they seem; even on a morning that is sunny and clear there is always the threat of darkness looming of things taking a turn for the worse' A. M. Homes<br><br>'Shirley Jackson is unparalleled as a leader in the field of beautifully written quiet cumulative shudders' Dorothy Parker</p>