Merricat Blackwood is the only member of her family to leave the house. Her sister Constance won't and her uncle Julian, the sole survivor of a poisoning, can't. When Merricat ventures into town, the people are invariably hostile. The murders of her relatives have gone unpunished and the townspeople are quick to blame her.

Merricat must do what she can to protect what's left of her family. A macabre masterpiece filled with suspense and tension, yet darkly humorous, We Have Always Lived in the Castle was Shirley Jackson's final novel and her best.