Shirley Jackson

... lively and authoritative new biography. -- The Economist This new biography... could not be more welcome or timely... Her [Ruth Franklin's] critical grasp of Jackson's oeuvre is superlative and you do not doubt a word she says: this is most definitely an exhaustive biography. -- Julie Myerson - The Spectator ...Ruth Franklin skilfully and with great verve and readability paints a portrait of a woman with many faces in this slick and stylish biography. -- The Mail on Sunday Franklin... gives equal weight to Jackson's life and work in this groundbreaking new biography. -- Jane Ciabattari, The 10 Best Books of 2016 - BBC Culture Ruth Franklin's Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life is a richly satisfying biography: capacious, incisive, and full of surprising insights into the legacy of this Virginia Werewolf among the seance-fiction writers (as a short-sighted mid-century writer once dubbed her). -- Kate Bolick, Our Favourite Books of 2016 - The Irish Times ... enjoyable biography... -- Dan Jones - The Times Franklin attempts to rehabilitate Jackson through a thoughtful reading of her books. She brings out the complexity of her work and compares her to more canonical writers such as Edgar Allan Poe. -- London Review of Books Franklin has gained access to a trove of new material including a fascinating correspondence between Jackson and a housewife fan in the early 1960s. Our sense of there being two Shirleys is not encouraged by the author, who makes a convincing case for seeing the two personas instead as profoundly interconnected . -- Times Literary Supplement In her biography...Ruth Franklin plays down the broomstick tag and skilfully unpicks the threads of Jackson's life and works. -- The Arts Desk A brilliant new biography... -- The Pool