A darkly funny account of family life from the author of The Haunting of Hill House and The LotterySometimes in my capacity as a mother I find myself sitting openmouthed and terrified before my own childrenAs well as being a master of the macabre Shirley Jackson was also a pitchperfect chronicler of everyday family life In Life Among the Savages her caustically funny account of raising her children in a ramshackle house in Vermont she deals with rats in the cellar misbehaving imaginary friends an oblivious husband and everencroaching domestic chaos all described with wit warmth and plenty of bite Jacksons family chronicles have a genuinely subversive aspect Read today her pieces feel surprisingly modern mainly because she refuses to sentimentalize or idealize motherhood The New York Times Book ReviewComic masterpieces laced with hints of the discontent that lies beneath Guardian
