The Turn of the Screw

By Henry James

A timeless gothic novella, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw follows the transformation of Miles (age 10) and Flora (age 8) from well-behaved children to deceitful liars. When a governess comes to their country estate to look after the children, she and Flora are separately visited by ghosts. However, Flora denies the experience and Miles claims to never have been visited by one, even when evidence supports an evil plot between the children and the ghosts. Devoid of common ghost story stereotypes, this timeless story is full of suspense, supernatural phenomenon, and thrills to frighten and delight any listener.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Sep 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781974997497

Henry James

Henry James (1843-1916), the son of the religious philosopher Henry James Sr. and brother of the psychologist and philosopher William James, published many important novels including Daisy Miller, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, and The Ambassadors.

Book preview

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 heavy 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,

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.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A suspense novel........a thriller..........and eloquent writing! A spectacular ending which left me speechless (a rare occurrence!)! Great book!

[beidlerp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great edition of the FIRST edition of Henry James's most popular story.

[amerynth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Terrific and short little ghost story -- ends with lots of unanswered questions. As I was reading, the tone really reminded me of the movie "The Others." After finishing the book I found out that the movie is in fact very loosely based on the book. This is one of the books referenced on "Lost" as well.

[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.

[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.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.

[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.

[birdo82 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[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.

[imperfectcj · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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))

[booksandscones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jjaylynny · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[killerx-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Intense? No. Boring.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Turn of the Screw may be the first entry in the very specific sub-genre of the ambiguous ghost story, a sub-genre with includes the much better The Haunting of Hill House and The Little Stranger. Here, an unnamed governess takes on a suspicious job caring for two orphans on a remote estate. Her employer, the children's uncle, leaves specific instructions not to trouble him with any decisions, so she is basically on her own. Once the governess arrives at the house, she soon starts seeing apparitions, whom she identifies as the ghosts of the previous governess and her employer's valet, both of whom died under mysterious circumstances. She perceives that the children know of the ghosts and determines that the four of them have some sinister relationship.The governess's account is suspect for many reasons. For one, she describes her charges as beautiful, perfect, angelic creatures, praises which they clearly don't deserve; in fact, they are hardly characters in their own right, and seem merely to exist for the governess to lavish unwarranted praise upon. Clearly, she is subject to emotional excesses, as she has accepted this ludicrous position and developed a bizarre crush on her employer with absolutely no prompting. Finally, no one seems to see these "ghosts" but her, and the reader has no proof that the children are aware of them other than her say-so.Henry James would rather not write a simple, straightforward sentence if he could compose one that twists and turns and wanders off to nowhere instead -- or perhaps this is yet another example of the governess/narrator's instability. It's a short book, though, so the overwrought writing style is bearable. The ending, however, comes across as melodramatic to a 21st-century reader. Still, The Turn of the Screw is worth reading for its part in developing this unique sub-genre, which marries the haunting of houses and the haunting of minds.

[maryanntherese · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A tale of a ghost in Victorian England.

[cmbohn · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Wow, I forgot that I *HATE* Henry James. Actually, I didn't hate him quite so much before I read this book, but now I really do. So disappointed! The hugely long paragraphs made my eyes glaze over. I couldn't pay attention long enough to figure out what was really going on. I think if I hadn't heard the whole discussion on [The Turn of the Screw] - is it really ghosts or is the governess nuts - I would have been at least a little drawn into the story, to see what would happen next. But as it is, I just couldn't force myself to finish this! My vote is a solid 'the governess is nuts' vote. Totally unbelievable premise and I couldn't STAND the woman. Just bad.

[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.

[jackkane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

'The Turn of the Screw' isn't really about ghosts. James explores the debilitating effects of the sexual repression pervasive under the absurd 'morals' of the Victorian age. The governess is clearly unstable - the 'turn of the screw' is a reference to her insanity. The spooks in the novel are pedophilia and patriarchal repression, both the direct product of Victorian mores.I found James's style too heavy. Between his long, tortuous sentences, and the subject matter, the novel is a tough read - despite its brevity. To James's credit, his execution of the unreliable narrator technique is impressive.The most remarkable aspect of the book is the sensitive subject matter, and James's success in avoiding censorship.'The Innocents' (1960) with Deborah Kerr is a great screen adaptation of 'Turn of the Screw.' Look it up, it's well worth watching!

[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.

[bderby_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

James explores both the supernatural and the psychological in this ghost story. It would do well to teach this text to students who are familiar with Jane Eyre as there are parallels between Jane Eyre and the governess in this novella. This is a good James text to cover with secondary students because of its short length. Since it is so short, James's notoriously dense prose will be easier to delve into. Don't expect to be finished with this text quickly just because it is short; it will take just as long to unpack the details (and sometimes the plot) from this James work than it would to explore a longer text by an author with an easier writing style.

[anya_b_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

maybe it was because i had to read it for class, but i really did not like this book...at all.

[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.

[well7readneck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read with Shutter Island.

[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.