It's Oh Comely Book Club Week, and to kick off we have our first Penguin Classic, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. 

This short and eerie Gothic masterpiece is told by young Merricat, who lives alone with her sister Constance after the rest of their family were murdered one lunchtime by a generous dose of arsenic. Although Constance had cooked the lunch, she was acquitted of all charges, and now the sisters live hidden away in Blackwood Estate, away from the taunts and stares of the village. Merricat likes it that way though; she loves being spoilt by her sister, she loves their undisturbed lives, and she loves being carried away by her fantasies. All is as it should be, until a distant cousin arrives on their doorstep and threatens to rock the fairytale world that the sisters have created for themselves.

As quick and smooth to read as swallowing a lozenge, I raced through the pages with pleasant chills running down my spine. Rarely do I become so engrossed by a narrator's story, but Merricat's voice dripped with such dark and disturbing naivety that I couldn't put the book down until it was over. 

What did you think? Were you transported into Merricat's Gothic world, or were you unconvinced by the twist at the end? Join in the discussion on our Facebook page. 

Here's what some of you thought:

Throughout this tale of tangled relationships and concealed malice, an atmosphere of creeping unease pervades. As the reader is drawn into the Blackwood sisters’ claustrophobic world, sinister revelations unfold and the novel is propelled towards a conclusion which is strangely inevitable and yet subversively unexpected. We Have Always Lived in the Castle leaves us with thoughts of Merricat and Constance that remain, puzzling and wraith-like, long after the novel’s pages have closed.

Laura Pashby, www.circleofpinetrees.com. 

Read during my holiday, I was transported into the eccentric world of Merricat and Constance. There's an almost fairytale quality to the story, with buried treasure, charms and sisters living in their own gingerbread house. But as in all good fairytales there is a darkness, one that runs from the first page to the last, with talk of werewolves and witches. But in between the tale is a simple one, one that is chillingly real and surrounds a deep secret that the reader is trusted to carry.

This is a beautifully crafted book, one that I would recommend and all ready have.

Natalie McFadyen White.

I loved this story; I found it both enchanting and frightening, and since finishing the book I've bought more of Shirley Jackson's work. I will also be nagging my manager to order some copies for the senior school library, where I work, as I think the pupils will find it accessible and very different from their course texts. 

Cecily Fleming, Somerset. 

It didn't take me long to become hooked on this book, and what did it was the mention of arsenic. It instantly reminded me of the many Agatha Christie books I read as a teenager. Unlike the tales of Miss Marple however, it was me that was the detective, attempting to work out from the clues in the dialogue, who was ultimately responsible for wiping out the majority of The Blackwood family. The book was also infinitely creepier than a Christie novel. Very dark and in a strange way, very funny.

Sally Gill.