The Turn of the Screw
Henry James 1898
This short ghost story follows a governess who believes spirits threaten the two children in her care. At the isolated country house of Bly, her account leaves readers questioning what she sees.
156 pages 3h 1m reading time
- One of the most famous ghost stories in English, and one of the most argued over.
- Leaves open whether the ghosts are real or only in the governess's mind, so the story can be read both ways.
- Suggests that fear grows strongest in what is hinted at and never shown, letting readers imagine the worst for themselves.
- Started a long-running debate among critics about whether the governess can be trusted, and that debate made the book a classic example of a narrator who may be wrong about her own story.
- Inspired many retellings, including Benjamin Britten's opera "The Turn of the Screw" and the classic horror film "The Innocents."
Sparked by an archbishop
James got the idea from a ghost story told to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury one evening.
Spoken, not handwritten
James dictated the story out loud to a typist instead of writing it by hand.
First a magazine serial
It first came out in weekly parts, with pictures, in Collier's Weekly, an American magazine.
Played down by its author
In a letter, James called it a "pot-boiler," meaning a piece written mainly to earn money.