Book Review: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

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“The Turn of the Screw” is a suspenseful gothic short story following a young governess hired to care for two charming orphans.

Buy “The Turn of the Screw”

“The Turn of the Screw” follows the story of a young governess newly hired to take care of two orphaned children. These children are adopted by their wealthy uncle, who’s essentially [curiously] too busy to care for them in his big old mansion.

The young governess is faced with protecting her two young charges – Miles and Flora – from the evil spirits ‘ghosts’ that lurk Bly mansion. Unfortunately, the poor lady descends into a paranoid-like state in her quest to uncover the truth while protecting the orphan pair.

The thing about Henry James is that his delivery can be grievously dramatic and comedic at once.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I loved Mrs. Gose’s comical characterization as she kept repeating that the previous workers of the manor had ‘went,’ an ambiguous euphemism to describe their death.

What I liked most about this short story is that, through the lens of the gothic, it challenges our preconceived notions of equating beauty and youthfulness (children) to markers of ‘virtuous good’ and ‘innocence’:

“Of course I was under the spell, and the wonderful part is that, even at the time, I perfectly knew I was. But I gave myself up to it; it was an antidote to any pain, and I had more pains than one.”

Gothic stories have always been about challenging our preconceived notions of horror, morality, and sanity.

And this story has all of the entrapments of a gothic classic: referring to other gothic books [in this case ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho‘], a big old creepy mansion, ambiguous answers to posed questions by the main character, secretive tenants, and the main character losing their senses through paranoia after witnessing unexplainable hauntings.

All in all, this was an enjoyable creepy short story!

Also, I read this book as part of a Spooky Reading Vlog. You can watch it here.

“No, no—there are depths, depths! The more I go over it, the more I see in it, and the more I see in it, the more I fear. I don’t know what I don’t see—what I don’t fear!”

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