Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Turn Of The Screw
    The Turn Of The Screw
    The Turn Of The Screw
    Ebook160 pages2 hours

    The Turn Of The Screw

    By Henry James

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A young governess turns up at a country estate in Essex to care for Miles and Flora, two young orphans left in care of their absentee uncle. Soon after her tenure begins, the governess begins to see strangers walking the grounds, and interacting with the siblings in odd and disturbing ways. The governess begins to feel they are not wholly human—but rather are ghosts haunting Miles and Flora, and their influence upon the children has tragic consequences.

    HarperPerennialClassics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateDec 31, 2013
    ISBN9781443432344
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

    Read more from Henry James

    Related to The Turn Of The Screw

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Paul Tremblay

      Jun 17, 2020

      IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY BIGGEST FEARS that I would live to see the end of everything,” says Paul Tremblay, speaking to SFX from his Massachusetts home in the middle of lockdown. It’s a singularly peculiar time, and a peculiar interview for him to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Set up Siri

      Jul 16, 2020

      Set up Siri
      1 min read

    • Article

      Creative Sparks

      Aug 20, 2021

      Creative Sparks
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Roots Of Horror

      Aug 5, 2021

      The Roots Of Horror
      5 min read

    • Article

      Global Horror Market

      Feb 4, 2021

      US small press Silver Shamrock Publishing is open for submission of unagented original horror and dark fiction novels and novellas. Editor Ken McKinley is interested in seeing ‘unique spins on classic horror tropes’, ranging from ghost stories and ha

      1 min read

    • Article

      Find A New Home For Your Hauntings

      Oct 1, 2020

      Dark Moon Books editorial team promotes dark fiction by publishing multi-author anthologies and single author collections plus the occasional novel. They want ‘unusual and invigorating dark fiction’ which is ‘experimental, innovative, or progressive…

      1 min read

    • Article

      Tragic And Ridiculous

      Aug 10, 2020

      Tragic And Ridiculous
      4 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Apr 20, 2023

      It Happened to Me…
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Founder

      Feb 8, 2024

      Letter From The Founder
      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel

      Mar 25, 2019

      If she was home at night in her husband’s bed, did he care what she did with her days? The post ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Take a Writer Like Him: My Complicated Love Affair with Kingsley Amis

      Aug 24, 2018

      1. As much as I may rack my brain, there are 15 minutes or so in the dark that I can’t account for and that I’ll never get back—15 minutes during which, I have to think, that creep’s hands were touching my body. It’s a weird thing to think about all

      12 min read

    • Article

      An Endless Story

      Jun 1, 2018

      Halfway through the sentenceshe fell asleep. She had been tellingsome sort of fable concerninga young girl who wakens one morningas a bird. So like life,said the person next to me. I wonder,he went on, do you suppose our friend hereplans to fly away

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      My Best Friend

      Oct 1, 2020

      My Best Friend
      6 min read

    • Article

      These Bad Things

      Dec 23, 2019

      These Bad Things
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Joke

      Sep 1, 2020

      Although best known for his 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury was also a prolific writer of short stories, having published his first while still a teenager. This previously unpublished story likely dates to 1950, the year The Martian Chronicle

      5 min read

    • Article

      Echos

      Jan 10, 2019

      Before Corrine’s husband abandoned her in Berlin, he liked to say that her name reminded him of the word “corrupt.” But ending in a twist rather than a split. Her last name was the French word for “swimsuit” but he never mentioned that. This seemed s

      17 min read

    • Article

      Witness

      Jun 9, 2020

      My sister threw open the door so that it banged against the little console table she kept by the entrance. “Silas,” she said breathlessly, before even removing her coat, “I have to tell you something.” Which was enough to make me feel trapped, as tho

      25 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    • Article

      Life After Death

      May 27, 2022

      Life After Death
      14 min read

    • Article

      Sadie: A Ghost Story

      Aug 4, 2017

      Sadie: A Ghost Story
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Turn Of The Screw

    3.5/5

    94 ratings102 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      At Bly, a country estate in 19th century England, a young woman is hired as a governess for two young children who have been recently orphaned after the death of their parents. The home belongs to the children’s uncle who, although their legal guardian, wants nothing to do with them. At first, all is seemingly well, as the governess is thoroughly charmed with the beauty, intelligence, and disposition of her charges. Soon enough, though, things take a serious turn for the worse when she begins to see the ghosts of two former employees of the estate who seem to have malicious intentions toward the children. But are these apparitions real and, if so, why is the governess the only one who can see them? Alternatively, is she slowly descending into madness, or afflicted by some other malady? What are the secrets that the children seem to be protecting? How does the uncle’s apparent indifference factor into the situation? What explains the ultimate fates that the children and the governess experience?Those are all excellent questions. Of course, one of the things that has kept The Turn of the Screw relevant fiction for more than a century is that Henry James never really answers any of them. Instead, he offers a psychologically complex gothic horror story that allows readers to decide—or at least try to—for themselves what actually happens. Certainly, the author’s innovations in this tale were hugely influential on many subsequent artists; over the years, the novella has inspired works in literature, film, theater, and even opera. What the book is not, unfortunately, is a particularly interesting or compelling narrative in the modern context. James wrote with a bloated, overly wordy style that severely minimized the impact of the suspense in the tale. Although described by some critics as “chillingly evil” and “sinister,” I found the story to fall well short of those marks, with the horrific elements often buried in long passages of verbose inner monologue from a very unreliable narrator. So, while I am glad to have read the book for its historical importance, it was not one that I especially enjoyed.
    • 5/5
      Chilling! That ending is utterly chilling!
    • 4/5
      Another genre classic that I hadn't read for a long time-and this time with good reason. James' way with a convoluted sentence often makes me want to scream, and having to backtrack to work out his intended focus does not make for a smooth flow in reading experience.

      That said, there is a definite power in this tale, and it builds nicely in dread and atmosphere to a chilling conclusion. It is definitely a classic of the genre, but the movie THE INNOCENTS showed how it could have been done in a more straightforward, yet still distinctly superior, fashion, and Peter Straub's retelling in GHOST STORY is also a superior version.

      Could easily have been a 5 star tale, and saying that, I've nudged it up from 3 to 4 this time around. It could be a long, long time before I want to read it again though.
    • 2/5
      A ghost story with a horrific overtone.Victorian obscurity in expression, so not to say anything that could be objectionable. Took me a while to figure out what was worrying the governess.220
    • 2/5
      I have no freaking idea what I just read. It ended--if you can even call that an ending, which is up for debate--and I went back and re-read the last six chapters. It didn't really help.W.T.F????2 stars for a strong start and a cool story idea...he lost me after that.
    • 3/5
      This was my first Henry James story and I really enjoyed it. It was a short novel that can be characterized as a classic psychological thriller or ghost story from the 19th century. The story itself was not particularly scary, but I really enjoyed James' writing style and how he got inside the head of the main character as she starts to lose it later in the story. I will certainly read more of Henry James.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 3/5
      Not much to say about this one. It had great potential to be a really creepy Halloween tale, but just fell flat for me.

      The writing was very good and typical of the writing in the late 1800s.
    • 2/5
      Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.
    • 2/5
      A tale of a ghost in Victorian England.
    • 4/5
      An incredible blend of Gothic and Realism, "Turn of the Screw" sends the reader into a tailspin, questioning what is real and what is moral.
    • 2/5
      I had a college professor who issued a threat to our class via an anecdote about a prof from his own undergrad days. If a paper ran past the prescribed length, his professor would put a red line through anything remaining and write "ends abruptly" in the margin. I can only assume that's what happened to Henry James when he wrote this novel. I was listening to this on audiobook, and, even though the lady with the British accent said the recording had concluded, I just sat there thinking that there had to be a hidden track or something and if I sat in silence long enough, it would reveal itself.I've not looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure it says on my English degree that I'm supposed to give at least four stars to everything British, and especially everything written in the 19th century, so it's possible that rating this book poorly will result in my being stripped of my bachelor's degree. Meh. I wasn't using it much anyway except for a little blogging, a few book reviews, and some obscure references with which I pepper conversations to discourage others from engaging me in small talk.But really, what the heck did I just read? I get that the narrator is unreliable, I get why the references to (sexual?) misconduct are mostly communicated through significant facial expressions, and I get that I'm probably supposed to be confused. Sometimes these things make me enjoy a book and sometimes they don't. My experience with The Turn of the Screw is closer to the latter.Now, one thing I like is how the narrator always wants to face things directly in a household of people who are tiptoeing around issues and an employer who expressly directs her not to talk to him about anything. It demonstrates how crazy-making it is to want to have straightforward answers when everyone around you is either silent or speaks obliquely. It's difficult to know where one stands when the best one can hope for in the way of explanation is an arched eyebrow or perhaps, if one is lucky, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Would it kill them to just come out with it? (spoiler alert...(view spoiler))
    • 2/5
      I just didn't get it? It didn't get me? It literally did not pull me into the story or hold my true interest. Perhaps a second reading/listening in the future.
    • 2/5
      Intense? No. Boring.
    • 3/5
      Written in 1898 and republished numerous times Turn of the Screw has also been adapted for the stage, television and the big screen. Someone told me it was even mentioned in an episode of "Lost" (I wouldn't know). James's technique is to tell the story within a frame - one story within another. We are first introduced to a man at a Christmas party telling a tale of a governess. From there we are in the story, told from the point of view of the governess. She has been hired to look after two small children after their parents are killed and they are sent to live on an uncle's estate. Soon after the governess's arrival she starts to notice strange occurances, shadowy figures stalking the grounds. She learns they are former lovers and hired hands, back to supposedly recreate their relationship through the children.While James uses words like "hideous", "sinister", "detestable", and "dangerous", there is great debate as to exactly what he is describing as so terrible. He refers to evil again and again, but his ghosts are not the usual spectors. They only hint at danger rather than taking action and "attacking". The other great debate is whether the governess is insane (or goes insane while at Bly). Because no one else really backs up her ghost sightings you have to wonder.
    • 2/5
      Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.
    • 4/5
      Tangled Victorian prose spoils this otherwise good ghost story. The scene where the governess meets the spectre of Peter Quint on the stairs is genuinely scary. I don't think I would read this one again just for enjoyment, so I'm going to register & release it on BookCrossing.
    • 4/5
      Like most novels with ambiguous endings, this one has had me thinking over the past few days. It's a haunted house story, in the sense that the narrative follows a young governess as she moves into a country estate to be faced with the pair of ghosts that haunt the two children in her care, but it's by no means the typical "chills & thrills"-type horror novel. There's little scary about these supernatural beings but the fact that they seem bent on corrupting the children in some way, continuing the negative influence they'd had while alive. An influence towards what, one wonders, as there are implications but it's never made explicit. In fact, the majority of the novel is concerned with this sense of taboo - wrongs so unspeakable but titillating the characters can only speak around them in innuendo, trying to force each other into revelation first. I'd definitely recommend giving this a read, but expect (and embrace!) the loose ends.
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.
    • 4/5
      Any writer can make a cemetery or haunted house scary, but a good writer can make terrifying the absolutely ordinary. Henry James does this in Turn of the Screw, which is a ghost story about a governess who finds herself stuck with loving but haunted charges.This mini-novel is densely written, so if you're fresh off Stephen King and want blood, gore, and one-liners, you're not going to find it here. Turn of the Screw is an old-fashioned gothic story, full of expensive manors and apparitions in the study. But if you can get through the dense language, you'll find a terrific atmosphere. At first everything will seem normal, but a sense of unease will creep up on you. You'll realize that there's something not quite right with the children or the governess. You'll feel the macabre before you can even put a name to it, and you'll start to question what is real and what is psychological. This is horror the way it used to be, and the way it should be again.
    • 3/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is billed as a psychological thriller. It is the story of an unnamed governess who agrees to care for two children at their uncle's estate, Bly. Her story is told through her journal entries. Her charges are "darlings" until one day while walking she meets menacing apparitions. I wanted to love this book as I do the classics. However, the writing was convoluted and this reader was very much distanced from the characters and felt like a passive bystander. It's saving grace was that is was only 131 pages. 2 1/2 stars
    • 3/5
      Disappointed after hearing all the praise of this novella, possibly was more shocking in its day and I’ve now become jaded by ghost stories. Lots of gothic atmosphere, tension and uncertainty. While the language wasn’t all that difficult, the style and manner of writing made it a bit difficult to get through. Long sentences with many clauses served to confuse me and lose the gist at times. Not really an enjoyable read so it felt longer and I was glad when it ended. Can’t recommend, but glad I filled in the gap of my reading of classic literature.
    • 4/5
      Narrated by Emma Thompson, I enjoyed re-reading this classic, gothic novella for the third time.

      I know many readers are not impressed by this book, but I enjoyed it, (again). I know it's rather verbose, especially considering the length of the book, but I found more than a few of the sentences to be outright chilling.

      I've always loved psychological horror and ambiguous stories, so this one hits most of the marks for me. My original rating of the book, at 4 stars, stands.
    • 3/5
      I had never gotten around to reading this classic ghost story and it seemed appropriate for the pre-Halloween season. I am sure it was shocking in its time, but compared to Stephen King or Dean Koontz it's pretty tame.
    • 4/5
      I honestly don't remember much about this now? It was neither as impressive nor as unimpressive as I have heard. Fairly atmospheric, decent ambiguous ending. I'm glad I read it, if only because now I will get it when other books or movies are referencing it.
    • 3/5
      I've never read Henry James, but I love ghost stories, and this is one of the classic ghost stories. I loved the ambiguity-- but the dense language lost me from time to time. You can certainly see its influence on modern horror literature, film and pop culture.
    • 3/5
      Well, this was a strange little book and not at all what I expected from Henry James. I think I need someone to explain it to me. This is what I understood:a young governess is hired by a London gentleman to go to his country house and teach his young niece and nephew; the nephew was away at boarding school but has been sent home in disgrace and is not welcome back; the governess sees a strange man peering into a window but when she goes outside to find him he has disappeared; later she sees him on an upper story of the house; while out with the little girl the governess also sees a strange woman standing across the lake from them; these two ghosts seem to have some hold over the two children; the housekeeper identifies the two phantoms as a man who was the owner's valet and the previous governess who had a sexual relationship.Strange little book although I must say Carole Boyd did a great job of narrating it.
    • 3/5
      A second chance at Henry James. This one was still pretty wordy, but it pulled you along. Are there really ghosts? Do the others see them or know? Are they evil spirits? What is it they want?

      There is a tension that runs through the whole book that ebbs and flows. There is also the thought that maybe some one is mad.

      Definitely a good ghost story.
    • 4/5
      Like most novels with ambiguous endings, this one has had me thinking over the past few days. It's a haunted house story, in the sense that the narrative follows a young governess as she moves into a country estate to be faced with the pair of ghosts that haunt the two children in her care, but it's by no means the typical "chills & thrills"-type horror novel. There's little scary about these supernatural beings but the fact that they seem bent on corrupting the children in some way, continuing the negative influence they'd had while alive. An influence towards what, one wonders, as there are implications but it's never made explicit. In fact, the majority of the novel is concerned with this sense of taboo - wrongs so unspeakable but titillating the characters can only speak around them in innuendo, trying to force each other into revelation first. I'd definitely recommend giving this a read, but expect (and embrace!) the loose ends.
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.

    Book preview

    The Turn Of The Screw - Henry James

    Ζbbook_preview_excerpt.htmlZ˖7֜UG:nlci,dLYwߛ/{oIVSZD@ 7nD.On|aIq?oo~c:}w˻<8^~xܼ_cuݷ~L?5KO1urS<Ŀ>?z7R JMO~/+ه|9;}z/|៞/积ӧW|_aO_cO_aX`_egm\fA} B-K)l;| 7;{6P*Hm\3FZRw;澚m-#e< Q6Y{G!>!Md~x!gJc\Yn8b>s•@49%{,_wD'5|>p:ǎ(OrT{Q-D+p$ 9";֘Tt||ìwBq>fa֬dj򓷞1\~ ;Z+[.>b ΐag ϋÞ{4xBZIkٿ ^&jTsɽuIL `CB|Bȍ׷ԃP# Q\J4E c( *2"s8 |JLHO~;f $Zƒ-lK5q[U;ܨkFq.Ϭe|K(ge%:ub2|1~EYDE=5&G3{[M+{FѢ1R5n^32sX "p+d! j^+y3|Gn':a-e<6?F7Fv L/p%ѧ^]E!R#Ρ,}_M0bp*] C'#\УtO_َ`R7,L3ѓ+7@+Uln[J9^@DwABL6J uUb7/xQ вzbFa*+|V_ٞ%Q^;I SʢO,LT YӋLVWw*s}WqWZ^Y4;Rof9/KroL$ F q FY).&#Q '8UzO1`YKZ;M)Dc/_|lP`U`Q67]VJʊ~Aavb:*Ւ[/7q; ըcZNui(~s'N/ms1u/JA̐BC_fJ2A B/ְsԱCUnYHCo%:V`̾AZ )k!MONkJ+!bB,`?);:a)k߹%_Wkj(}2ɿz1sKE7v)]`E~׼ S& 5﹡e16ݲ#G>%[$Vj@^0 X\ǎu(92dc&;囪- |6WdVIpYտyS:aPͅO20[1WFP9@tW tKi,}L&0o2nCa2\0;Fe+7hni S kbJuL ȜJEyTts填KSZ&0zaĉɷmm7kb]t4ķaE,\%dW&tg /Dq<+~uM+#Ku__ Kq>Ώkƚhz7wk1j^rrX l'BDMwRҍSyKې~ĕF_bs-e]0Fb-sSlqs{rmru*FZ$#խ4K;T!V"V_EBr嗅]Jּ#} x ]^zM)hp8iJlph] b:bcl*6Y$Q#ebIeٸ,hLC^">y7 {dF< {sV~jb<3@料1yɵ"a|@fWfb/sS{^\`eJ +z%j҉ݒ-u`K BP|sݑN6%m?"[0RlWuLJ:r>2sx$ńO CU:558qz< )twdgGmlW#1vyyѭvqID̥DnFn*X%T>(/L jli\e +M2JoF dF6wD)vMOUuҌc[#}{'~v!hkq pb5BvL^Gܮ(a"~M4`m^\,/նr"LEW}iCpu1\Oyspi)+ˌ ̫8nm HDL٪0ʋ:aA96Z+!O0kHk;FcrA(:8nSN=-483BbA:A2Iƥ/W9R.P5u֓Q:{pP8Nx[%}<,*J fNGHZ ""Էʸ1-%EId,kwf{i5ܰOu"et %:%SSLՊ|2VUֹPnKkԲaKB•RcY\8f-ç8A'c@W+KqrBB]+8ZtIsggT.ya6g~zd@s,DFHn;Wp=F'j&lkw'6myclڋdnpVOף"^"jLֽYMS!-mye.p;ՂjG^^ߨ)Nn5prz CYJ׮7ꊹ`&m+S YF3cPm}sقDe.GB`PNѮP-`%LHP%A֚v{=6t`mڈGSyv);%f6P$>~<`%W/ VI5>/H3ЕC!|bQIHc;__ n%;{F6"KWp;kE:^>jX~I32m'쵺0Q 2>`=*$61y ld1mõb4T1y2ZLK[NB[h6J"dCo$ ~!*NRo~oU{7jSPb\^(]kx#EJ8@J0R 0#?׏gX_YQ%ՉoF5 #rSK%X5['=ɣW˛Pzhu㐃/qlxemj(QV)NmO Mc#yb%4M/Ć {S+=еHbOlOh3_֙8Sdހ@ [j6~SJָQi¦ZvjX|/tUf;c%\ %b3M_3
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1