The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw is a horror novel from 1898. I always love classic horror stories and this was such a great example of gothic fiction and a ghost story. The story has inspired and served as source material for many adaptations over the years, including the a season of The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix.

The story begins when a group of party guests gather around a burning fireplace on a cold Christmas Eve night to share ghost stories. One of the guests speaks of sheer terror as he reads a manuscript written by a former breeder (whom he claims to have known and is now dead). And so the story begins. An uncle who had no interest in raising them hired a young governess to look after the two beautiful children, Bly, in their country home. After arriving home, things go south pretty quickly when the supervisor starts seeing ghosts and apparitions and tries to protect the kids. I loved how creepy the atmosphere and storytelling was, and how the story still makes the reader wonder what was real or fictional 125 years after it was published. It was perfection!

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The Turn of the Screw is a horror novel from 1898. I always love classic horror stories and this was such a great example of gothic fiction and a ghost story. The story has inspired and served as source material for many adaptations over the years, including the a season of The Haunting of Bly…