From the sky and from the ground and from the sea there is danger; tell them in the house…
Mrs Halloran has inherited the great Halloran house on the death of her son, much to the disgust of her daughter-in-law, the delight of her wicked granddaughter and the confusion of the rest of the household. But when the original owner – long dead – arrives to announce the world is ending and only the house and its occupants will be saved, they find themselves in a nightmare of a strange marble statues, mysterious guest and the beautiful, unsettling Halloran sundial which seems to be the centre of it all.
Shirley Jackson blends sinister family politics and apocalyptic terror in a masterpiece of the macabre.
A novel of gothic horror and shuddering suspense.
The New York Times