title: The Turn of the Screw by: James, Henry published: 1898 read: 2020-05 preview

“The Turn of the Screw” is a spooky story that kept me on edge, a bit. The tale starts with people sitting around a fireplace, reading an old manuscript. In this, a young, inexperienced governess is hired to take care of two orphaned kids, Miles and Flora, at a creepy, remote estate called Bly. She soon starts to believe the place is haunted by the ghosts of the previous governess, Miss Jessel, and a former servant, Peter Quint. She thinks these ghosts are out to harm the children.

James is great at keeping readers uneasy, using uncertainty and a possibly unreliable narrator to build a scary atmosphere. The governess’s detailed descriptions make you wonder, is it real or is she going crazy? This doubt is what makes the story so intriguing and keeps you guessing.

The kids, Miles and Flora, seem both innocent and oddly unsettling. Their strange behaviour feeds the governess’s fears and makes readers unsure about what’s really happening at Bly. James’s writing is rich in detail, creating a vivid, creepy setting that adds to the tension.

And I liked it since Benjamin Britten wrote an opera on its theme, but never saw that, but then I saw Handel’s Julius Caesar in which… well a long story. 

A fascinating read, yet I forgot it quickly after.