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Hangsaman

Hangsaman

About the Book

Shirley Jackson's chilling second novel, based on her own experiences and an actual mysterious disappearance

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite longs to escape home for college. Her father is a domineering and egotistical writer who keeps a tight rein on Natalie and her long-suffering mother. When Natalie finally does get away, however, college life doesn’t bring the happiness she expected. Little by little, Natalie is no longer certain of anything—even where reality ends and her dark imaginings begin. Chilling and suspenseful, Hangsaman is loosely based on the real-life disappearance of a Bennington College sophomore in 1946.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Praise for Hangsaman

"[Hangsaman] confirms the belief that Miss Jackson is an exceptional writer."
—The London Times

"No one can question the author's great ability to do the kind of thing she wants to do. This is as disturbing a story as the shorter 'Lottery' was, and in exactly the same way."
—San Francisco Chronicle

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About the Author

Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco in 1916. She first received wide critical acclaim for her short story “The Lottery,” which was published in The New Yorker in 1948. She is the author of six novels, including The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and The Sundial; two bestselling family chronicles, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons; and hundreds of short stories, many published in five separate posthumous collections. She died in 1965 at the age of forty-eight. More by Shirley Jackson
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About the Author

Francine Prose
Francine Prose’s most recent book is Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern. A contributing editor at Harper’s, she is the author of books of fiction, nonfiction, short stories, and book reviews. More by Francine Prose
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