The Turn of the Screw

By Henry James

A young governess takes a position caring for the orphaned niece and nephew of her employer after the death of the previous governess. The children, Miles and Flora, seem charming and sweet, but the governess suspects that they are hiding something. Why was Miles expelled from school? And where does Flora go in the dark hours of the night? The governess is haunted by ghosts that only she can see—and she is convinced that they are after the children. Are the ghosts merely a figment of the governess's deranged imagination, or is she the only thing that stands between her charges and the supernatural forces that threaten them? This is an unabridged version of the gothic ghost story novella by American writer Henry James, first published in 1898.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512406504

Henry James

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and non-fiction. He spent most of his life in Europe, and much of his work regards the interactions and complexities between American and European characters. Among his works in this vein are The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), and The Ambassadors (1903). Through his influence, James ushered in the era of American realism in literature. In his lifetime he wrote 12 plays, 112 short stories, 20 novels, and many travel and critical works. He was nominated three times for the Noble Prize in Literature.

Book preview

XXIV

THE TURN OF THE SCREW

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion—an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was this observation that drew from Douglas—not immediately, but later in the evening—a reply that had the interesting consequence to which I call attention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw he was not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something to produce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nights later; but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was in his mind.

I quite agree—in regard to Griffin’s ghost, or whatever it was—that its appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, adds a particular touch. But it’s not the first occurrence of its charming kind that I know to have involved a child. If the child gives the effect another turn of the screw, what do you say to TWO children—?

We say, of course, somebody exclaimed, that they give two turns! Also that we want to hear about them.

I can see Douglas there before the fire, to which he had got up to present his back, looking down at his interlocutor with his hands in his pockets. Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard. It’s quite too horrible. This, naturally, was declared by several voices to give the thing the utmost price, and our friend, with quiet art, prepared his triumph by turning his eyes over the rest of us and going on: It’s beyond everything. Nothing at all that I know touches it.

For sheer terror? I remember asking.

He seemed to say it was not so simple as that; to be really at a loss how to qualify it. He passed his hand over his eyes, made a little wincing grimace. For dreadful—dreadfulness!

Oh, how delicious! cried one of the women.

He took no notice of her; he looked at me, but as if, instead of me, he saw what he spoke of. For general uncanny ugliness and horror and pain.

Well then, I said, just sit right down and begin.

He turned round to the fire, gave a kick to a log, watched it an instant. Then as he faced us again: I can’t begin. I shall have to send to town. There was a unanimous groan at this, and much reproach; after which, in his preoccupied way, he explained. The story’s written. It’s in a locked drawer—it has not been out for years. I could write to my man and enclose the key; he could send down the packet as he finds it. It was to me in particular that he appeared to propound this—appeared almost to appeal for aid not to hesitate. He had broken a thickness of ice, the formation of many a winter; had had his reasons for a long silence. The others resented postponement, but it was just his scruples that charmed me. I adjured him to write by the first post and to agree with us for an early hearing; then I asked him if the experience in question had been his own. To this his answer was prompt. Oh, thank God, no!

And is the record yours? You took the thing down?

Nothing but the impression. I took that HERE—he tapped his heart. I’ve never lost it.

Then your manuscript—?

Is in old, faded ink, and in the most beautiful hand. He hung fire again. A woman’s. She has been dead these twenty years. She sent me the pages in question before she died. They were all listening now, and of course there was somebody to be arch, or at any rate to draw the inference. But if he put the inference by without a smile it was also without irritation. She was a most charming person, but she was ten years older than I. She was my sister’s governess, he quietly said. She was the most agreeable woman I’ve ever known in her position; she would have been worthy of any whatever. It was long ago, and this episode was long before. I was at Trinity, and I found her at home on my coming down the second summer. I was much there that year—it was a beautiful one; and we had, in her off-hours, some strolls and talks in the garden—talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice. Oh yes; don’t grin: I liked her extremely and am glad to this day to think she liked me, too. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t have told me. She had never told anyone. It wasn’t simply that she said so, but that I knew she hadn’t. I was sure; I could see. You’ll easily judge why when you hear.

Because the thing had been such a scare?

He continued to fix me. You’ll easily judge, he repeated: YOU will.

I fixed him, too. I see. She was in love.

He laughed for the first time. You ARE acute. Yes, she was in love. That is, she had been. That came out—she couldn’t tell her story without its coming out. I saw it, and she saw I saw it; but neither of us spoke of it. I remember the time and the place—the corner of the lawn, the shade of the great beeches and the long, hot summer afternoon. It wasn’t a scene for a shudder; but oh—! He quitted the fire and dropped back into his chair.

You’ll receive the packet Thursday morning? I inquired.

Probably not till the second post.

Well then; after dinner—

You’ll all meet me here? He looked us round again. Isn’t anybody going? It was almost the tone of hope.

Everybody will stay!

"I will—and I will! cried the ladies whose departure had been fixed. Mrs. Griffin, however, expressed the need for a little more light. Who was it she was in love with?"

The story will tell, I took upon myself to reply.

Oh, I can’t wait for the story!

The story WON’T tell, said Douglas; not in any literal, vulgar way.

More’s the pity, then. That’s the only way I ever understand.

Won’t YOU tell, Douglas? somebody else inquired.

He sprang to his feet again. Yes—tomorrow. Now I must go to bed. Good night. And quickly catching up a candlestick, he left us slightly bewildered. From our end of the great brown hall we heard his step on the stair; whereupon Mrs. Griffin spoke. Well, if I don’t know who she was in love with, I know who HE was.

She was ten years older, said her husband.

Raison de plus—at that age! But it’s rather nice, his long reticence.

Forty years! Griffin put in.

With this outbreak at last.

The outbreak, I returned, will make a tremendous occasion of Thursday night; and everyone so agreed with me that, in the light of it, we lost all attention for everything else. The last story, however incomplete and like the mere opening of a serial, had been told; we handshook and candlestuck, as somebody said, and went to bed.

I knew the next day that a letter containing the key had, by the first post, gone off to his London apartments; but in spite of—or perhaps just on account of—the eventual diffusion of this knowledge we quite let him alone till after dinner, till such an hour of the evening, in fact, as might best accord with the kind of emotion on which our hopes were fixed. Then he became as communicative as we could desire and indeed gave us his best reason for being so. We had it from him again before the fire in the hall, as we had had our mild wonders of the previous night. It appeared that the narrative he had promised to read us really required for a proper intelligence a few words of prologue. Let me say here distinctly, to have done with it, that this narrative, from an exact transcript of my own made much later, is what I shall presently give. Poor Douglas, before his death—when it was in sight—committed to me the manuscript that reached him on the third of these days and that, on the same spot, with immense effect, he began to read to our hushed little circle on the night of the fourth. The departing ladies who had said they would stay didn’t, of course, thank heaven, stay: they departed, in consequence of arrangements made, in a rage of curiosity, as they professed, produced by the touches with which he had already worked us up. But that only made his little final auditory more compact and select, kept it, round the hearth, subject to a common thrill.

The first of these touches conveyed that the written statement took up the tale at a point after it had, in a manner, begun. The fact to be in possession of was therefore that his old friend, the youngest of several daughters of a poor country parson, had, at the age of twenty, on taking service for the first time in the schoolroom, come up to London, in trepidation, to answer in person an advertisement that had already placed her in brief correspondence with the advertiser. This person proved, on her presenting herself, for judgment, at a house in Harley Street, that impressed her as vast and imposing—this prospective patron proved a gentleman, a bachelor in the prime of life, such a figure as had never risen, save in a dream or an old novel, before a fluttered, anxious girl out of a Hampshire vicarage. One could easily fix his type; it never, happily, dies out. He was handsome and bold and pleasant, offhand and gay and kind. He struck her, inevitably, as gallant and splendid, but what took her most of all and gave her the courage she afterward showed was that he put the whole thing to her as a kind of favor, an obligation he should gratefully incur. She conceived him as rich, but as fearfully extravagant—saw him all in a glow of high fashion, of good looks, of expensive habits, of charming ways with women. He had for his own town residence a big house filled with the spoils of travel and the trophies of the chase; but it was to his country home, an old family place in Essex, that he wished her immediately to proceed.

He had been left, by the death of their parents in India, guardian to a small nephew and a small niece, children of a younger, a military brother, whom he had lost two years before. These children were, by the strangest of chances for a man in his position—a lone man without the right sort of experience or a grain of patience—very heavily on his hands. It had all been a great worry and, on his own part doubtless, a series of blunders, but he immensely pitied the poor chicks and had done all he could; had in particular sent them down to his other house, the proper place for them being of course the country, and kept them there, from the first, with the best people he could find to look after them, parting even with his own servants to wait on them and going down himself, whenever he might, to see how they were doing. The awkward thing was that they had practically no other relations and that his own affairs took up all his time. He had put them in possession of Bly, which was healthy and secure, and had placed at the head of their little establishment—but below stairs only—an excellent woman, Mrs. Grose, whom he was sure his visitor would like and who had formerly been maid to his mother. She was now housekeeper and was also acting for the time as superintendent to the little girl, of whom, without children of her own, she was, by good luck, extremely fond. There were plenty of people to help, but of

Reviews for The Turn of the Screw

[moniquesnyman-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chilling! That ending is utterly chilling!

[browner56 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[williemeikle-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bettesbooks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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

[beckymmoe_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.

[kelley.logan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Haunting and haunted and ambiguous. Don't read this for a pat ending.

[joririchardson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I chose this chilling short story by Henry James as the 2nd of my three annual Halloween choices. It is the story of a young governess who is hired to take care of two orphaned children, Miles and Flora, at a large manor house in the Essex countryside. The children have been handed over to their estranged uncle, who wants little to do with them or any contact with them. The governess whom he hires is more than happy to adopt the two innocent youngsters as her own, and grows to love them dearly. However, she begins to see strange things happening about the house where she now lives, and continually sees a mysterious man and woman lingering about the estate. Both the man and woman have a horrifying, terrible expression and atmosphere to them, and when she describes them to her friend Mrs. Grose, the woman recognizes them instantly. They were lovers who once lived at the house, but they both died a few years ago, even though no one knows how. The governess becomes convinced that the ghost couple is after little Flora and Miles, though she can't understand why. The children insist that they do not to see the ghosts, but the governess is convinced that they are lying due to how frightened they appear whenever she questions they about it. The harder that the governess tries to protect her charges, the farther distanced from her they become.I very much enjoyed this brief, chilly tale, and I loved the antiquated way that it was written, which really gave it a cold, "ghost story" air that more modern writing simply cannot capture.In the beginning of the story, it didn't occur to me that the governess' ghosts may not be real, but by the middle of the book, I was convinced that they were simply figments of her imagination. However, at the very end, I didn't know what to think.I love stories that end just when the plot isn't quite closed out yet, leaving the reader to wonder - what happened? This story was certainly one of those, and I still can't decide if the heroine was crazy, or if the "horrors," as she called them, were really there. Perhaps they were, only they were real flesh and blood people who she wanted to think of as ghosts. Miles and Flora play their part well as the innocent, helpless little children who are very in need of protection as they drift obliviously toward horrific danger.Nowadays, every horror movie seems to cast an obligatory child, but when Henry James wrote "The Turn of the Screw," such themes weren't yet common.I especially loved Miles, who is a more filled out character than his younger sister Flora. He is a charming boy, who wants very badly to be "bad," in spite of how good he is. He even stages an event where he goes outdoors at night, and schemes at how to get the governess to witness his little crime, in an attempt to show her how "bad" he is.However, Miles is also a very wise character. Even though he never exactly tells his governess anything - he is always frustratingly vague - his little hints at deep, perceptive topics make him even more interesting.The unnamed main character was a bit annoying, and I felt that she was at times contradictory. She is normally terrified of the ghosts she is seeing (which is understandable), while at other times she speaks of them lightly and does things that make it seem as if she doesn't fear them at all.Her fierce protection of Miles and Flora was touching, and I couldn't help but wonder what made her care for them so much and so quickly, as if they really are her own family. Was she abandoned as a child? Did she always want children, but never got married? Speaking of speculation - there is much of it to be done within James' short story. There is, of course, the matter of the alleged ghosts. Are they imaginary? Real people mistaken as spirits? Or are they ghosts, after all? I think that everyone will ask these questions, but there are so many more to wondered about, if you look deeper.For instance, it seems apparent by the end that Miles and Flora are extremely afraid of (or even hateful toward) the governess herself. The governess seems to think that this is because the ghosts are controlling the children's minds, while Mrs. Grose hints that it is because the children have been influenced by an evil presence. But what if the evil presence is actually the governess, and she simply doesn't know it? Perhaps this is a bit too M. Night Shyalman, but could the governess have been a ghost herself?All of Miles' vague speeches, in which he is always saying things to the governess such as "you know what I mean..." could also be hints of this. Maybe she doesn't know what he means, and they are both talking about completely different things. In the middle of the story, I even thought that Miles had a schoolboy crush on his guardian, which was what he kept referring to, even though the governess assumed he was speaking about ghosts. If you read their conversation with this possibility in mind, it would actually fit quite well, though toward the end I had mostly dismissed this idea.All in all, I believe that I will keep wondering about "The Turn of the Screw" for a long while, and being so short, maybe I will re-read it again in hopes of unlocking further clues that may help me solve the mysteries I found there.This was a great Halloween read, though I would recommend it for anytime of the year.

[librarylou · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another one of the scariest books I have ever read. Really creepy, perfect for reading around the fire by candlelight.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

James certainly creates a haunting atmosphere, relentlessly ratcheting up the tension throughout this tale of the evil forces confronting the young governess who arrives at a large Victorian house to look after two seemingly cherubic orphans, Mile and Flora.However, at times I found James's highly stylized writing almost impenetrable (to a far great er degree than I had experienced with some of his longer works). Thomas Hardy said of James that he wrote with "a ponderously warm manner of saying nothing in infinite sentences". Well perhaps he should know!, However, on this occasion I wouldn't disagree at all. In this story James seems more concerned with showing how elaborately he could write than in delivering a flowing story.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[hobbsholler · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Disappointing ending. I wanted more talk from the men in the room in which the story was being told. Annoying superfluous narratives.

[virago77 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jeanas1s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is about a young lady who work in a rich house as governess.She looks after two children.Their name are Flora and Miles.They enjoyed living in that house.But they get to realize existence of ghost.I think she is very brave woman.If I saw a ghost,I move immediately and quit job.Perhaps I couldn't think about two children and protect them.

[danielalgara · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

You know, it's good. I just don't like Mr. James' style. Oi! with all the goddamn commas! It's halting and unnecessary. I did, however, enjoy the story. Deep, engaging, suspenseful, everything you'd want in a ghost story. It's just his style. I can't get into it. I finally, in the last 20 pages or so, figured out how to tolerate his style: ignore the commas. It worked capitally. It was almost like reading Dickens.

In all, I recommend this book, I just don't prefer it.

[rizeandshine · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An eerie ghost story that takes place at Bly, a country house in England. The story involves a governess and her two charges, Miles and Flora, who seem to be the most beautiful and well-behaved of children. But things are not always what they seem. It is left to the reader to imagine the possible reasons for Mile's expulsion from school, the relationship between the previous governess and manservant at Bly, and whether the governess is psychologically unstable or if there really are ghosts wandering the halls and corrupting the children. A great rainy day read.

[veevoxvoom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jawalter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

eBook

Reading The Turn of the Screw is like few other reading experiences I've ever had. It's perhaps most similar to Faulkner's unwillingness to explicitly explore the trauma driving his characters, but taken to an extreme far beyond that. Does James truly know what is happening in the story? Perhaps, but given that the governess, despite her overwhelming certainty in her own beliefs, is one of literature's least-trustworthy narrators, it is impossible for any reader to have total certainty about any part of her story.

It's her certainty, paradoxically, that makes the governess such a compelling character. Presented with events she doesn't fully comprehend, she leaps to conclusions with a startling suddenness, and once adopted, treats those conclusions as absolute facts. It is, in fact, her certainty that leads to so much doubt on the part of the reader, even as it is responsible for the creation of the story itself. Clearly, the story as written, whether true or not, is the governess' creation. Throughout, she fills in every narrative gap, cutting off the statements of others so as to complete their statements herself, or painting in vivid terms the motivations and imaginings of characters that would otherwise have remained hidden. As readers, we're not allowed our own suppositions about the other characters or the events of the story. The governess tells us what they say, think, believe, and do, leaving us only a binary option, befitting greatly the way her own mind works: do we believe her or not?

No matter our efforts, we can never really know if there were ghosts at Bly Manor, but in the end, that's irrelevant. The ghosts exist inside the governess' head, perhaps not as the spirits of the former governess and her lover, but at least in the form of the world constructed within the current governess' head. In a strange way, she is both narrator and reader of her own story, not only telling us what is happening, but simultaneously inviting us to join her in her own understanding of what she witnesses.

[ishtahar · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I've never read any Henry James before (a terrible admission for an English graduate) so I really wanted to love this book. I didn't.I thought the language was stilted and unnecessary, the story was something and nothing hugely padded out with superfluous narrative and the characters two dimensional. Plus it didn't scare me at all. Some ghost story!!

[breadhat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A horror classic. The story is conducive to so many readings; the most obvious question, that of the narrator's sanity, gives rise to two completely different but equally compelling narratives. There is a lot of complexity packed into this short novel, and it is clear why it continues to be of interest to literary critics and readers alike. Of course, it hails from the Victorian era, so you have to be willing to wade through the overly verbose inner monologue and the ludicrously heightened displays of emotion. These can make it a bit of a chore to read, but the bones of this story are rock-solid. And to be fair, it's hard to imagine the crucial atmosphere, full of traumatic secrets and implied confessions, remaining intact without the sense of aristocratic Victorian propriety.

I will say that this was not an emotionally satisfying read. Whether supernatural or not, there is a very real terror that permeates this story: the theme of children helpless and voiceless in the face of abuse from their caretakers. For a new parent especially, it's deeply upsetting, and it is delivered without any final catharsis. I was left with just a sense of hopelessness and loss at the end, and I was happy to have my son in my arms to hold.

[sovranty · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The antiquated grammar and long sentences makes this book a little difficult to read. However, once the cadence is mastered, the story is filled with brilliant insights. The great thing about this book is that it can be read at face value as a ghost story or more in depth as a psychological and sexual thriller.

[goet0095 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had a hard time with the language on this one...tough to follow. And I was continually frustrated with the governness in regards to Miles--if she wanted to know why he was kicked out of school, she should have asked him from the beginning, or written a letter to the headmaster!! It just seemed really odd that she decided not to mention it to him at all when he first came home. There was a lot of communication that was not happening. I did like the psychological element to it, and the possibly unreliable narrator. I was hoping it would be creepier than it turned out to be! I just didn't feel as much of an emotional connection to the characters.

[stodelay · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

While Henry James remains a brilliant but decidedly un-fun author to read, the Turn of the Screw is the greatest ghost story ever (except for perhaps the incomparable Wayans brothers' movie the 6th Man and that unmatched children's program Ghostwriter). A psychological thriller, the story is crisp and tight and features brilliant twists and turns along with memorable characters and a maddeningly inconclusive ending. It's a definite must for anyone who likes stories of the supernatural because it's actually good writing.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; (4*)I certainly enjoyed this mildly spooky Victorian gothic tale. And I found that I quite like the writing style of Henry James.The story is about an orphaned brother & sister taken in by an uncle or some such male relation. He is a very minor player withing the scheme of the book as he hires a governess/tutor to care for the children at his country manse. The one stipulation upon her hiring is that she not bother him with anything to do with the children.When the governess arrives she finds that the male child is away at boarding school so she just has the girl child at first. She finds the little girl beautiful & angelic in every way. She is bright and quick to learn, has lovely manners, is obedient and the governess enjoys her very much.But soon the little boy is returned to the home, having been quitted from the school never to return and the governess & housekeeper (who have become friends) are never to know specifically why. The child never speaks of it so all they can do is wonder. He has the same positive traits as his sister and in the beginning all is well and everyone appears to be happy. "Appears to be" are the key words here.For we find that the owner of the manse & their employer had a houseman who has died and that the previous governess has died as well. There begin to appear apparitions of both of these persons: The governess to the little girl albeit the new governess can also see her and the houseman to the little boy with the governess able to see his apparition as well.Thus begins the tug of war between the governess & the housekeeper against the two apparitions who want the children.I thought this a very good though short novella & I can highly recommend it. It is my first Henry James and I found myself seeking out others of his work immediately upon finishing this one.

[jlsmither · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've hesitated for a while now on writing this review. For one thing, I had to re-read the book. I "read" it first as a recording in my car. While that often works quite well (I highly recommend Frank Muller's reading of Moby Dick), it didn't seem to work here. I had a little trouble following the characters' motivations and felt like I was missing something. When I got to one very dramatic, tension-filled moment during a "driveway moment," I turned off my car, excited about what would happen next. When I got back into the car later, all I heard was "The End." I backed the CD up, listened to the final scene again, but that was it. Really?

So I decided to give it another try. I'd heard that some work by Henry James is important to find in its first edition, because he made changes later in life that aren't really improvements. I checked online and looked through the 4 or 5 editions in my local library, but all the versions I found ended with the same line (I don't want to repeat the line here because it gives a major plot twist away, but I will say that the story never returns to the frame story it opens with).

I re-read the book on my kindle, and I enjoyed it much more than the recorded version. The tension between whether the ghosts are really haunting the estate or whether the governess is making it all up (and what her motivations might be for doing so) comes through much stronger, and that's such a fascinating thread throughout the story. But I still felt let down by the ending. There's not really any foreshadowing of the event, which seems to jump out of nowhere in only the last SIX WORDS of the book. There's no explanation of what happens afterward, no denouement of any kind. It just... ends.

So, while I liked the book as a whole, I might "Jane Eyre" this one, meaning that I'll likely invent a new ending for it in my head to feel a little more satisfied.

[maggieflo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An inexperienced young woman is hired to become the governess of two small children near the town of Bly in Victorian England. The children have no parents and it is their uncle who hires her. She is informed that she is not to contact him at all u less there is a good reason. The two children are Miles and Flora. Soon, two ghosts appear, Quint and Jessel, who were the former caregivers of the children.It never becomes clear if it is the governess alone who sees these ghosts or if the children do as well. Who is the crazy one... Who knows.

[john257hopper · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I tried to read this classic Victorian story of haunted children years ago, but quickly gave up as I could not cut my way through the impenetrable language in which it was written; this time, I have succeeded in reading it, but I cannot say I have enjoyed the experience (and if it had been a full length novel rather than a novella of 117 pages in my edition, I probably would have failed a second time to get through it). I am a considerable reader of classic Victorian novels and have no problem with the more challenging language in which they are often written, compared to more modern writing, but here the language is often so opaque that I frequently read a sentence four or five times and still could not divine its meaning. The effort in doing so does not repay, as I found the story to have no real atmosphere and to be hardly chilling at all, except at brief moments and at the very end. A disappointment that for me does not deserve its high reputation.

[ayling_52 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I had to read this for English in year nine or ten I cannot rightly remember now. Anyway, I guess I'm not one much for ghost stories which is probably why I was never going to enjoy this book. Secondly we had to read it as a class, aloud one chapter at a time. I hate that. In a small group perhaps that would work but not a whole book. You do not really get to appreciate the language or the story because the change in reader (and quality of reader) was too distracting. I guess that's one way of making sure everyone does read it. Thirdly it was just a boring, pointless story. I can't remember precisely why now but I always liked reading in school, but this book was just absolutely excruciating. Perhaps I should give it a second read and see if my opinion has changed. Or maybe it will just reaffirm why I didn't like it.I remember wondering what the point was? Why is this story being told? Are the characters interesting? No. Is it well written? I can't remember so I cannot comment. Was what happened during the story interesting? No. Did I learn anything from it? No. Would I recommend it to anyone else? No.

[moriquen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Even though the English is not the easiest, the books reads like a charm. The turn of the screw really is a great story that gets under your skin.

[kirmuriel-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is the absence of explanations that makes this book interesting. Too many unknowns and just some answers

[bragan_8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A young woman is hired as a governess for two orphaned children, with only one condition: the children's guardian, who lives elsewhere, doesn't want to be bothered with any reports or questions about them. Despite the worrying nature of this request, she very much enjoys her job and the two angelic children... until the ghosts start showing up. And until she starts wondering whether the children are quite as angelic as they seem.The basic story here is decent. The disturbing elements are nicely subtle and slow-building, and there's an intriguing ambiguity about the whole thing. But Henry James' writing style I do not get along. I can deal with wordy Victorian prose, in general, but James takes it to an entirely new level. Reading one of his sentences is like navigating a labyrinth: it's full of unexpected turns and distracting side passages, and by the time you've reached the end of it, it's hard to remember the route you took to get there. It was just way too difficult for me to give myself over to a sense of creepiness when I often had to read a sentence over two or three times before I could extract the meaning out of it without getting lost in the middle (generally somewhere around the fifth or sixth comma). And James is definitely not an author you want to read while still working on your first cup of morning coffee, or while desperately trying not to nod off at bedtime -- which, unfortunately, are the main times I've had available to read lately.