Mary Katherine (Merricat) Blackwood leaves the house only twice a week. She goes out to get food from the grocer and books from the library for herself, her Uncle Julian and her sister Constance. They don’t ever leave the house at all. Life has been this way ever since the rest of their family died. To be precise, they were poisoned with arsenic in their sugar. Uncle Julian survived, but suffers now from both mental and physical disabilities. Mary Katherine had been sent to her room without supper the night it happened. This left Constance to be charged with the crime, but she was ultimately acquitted. That didn’t keep the town from shutting them out, however. Nor does it stop the local children from taunting:
“Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?
Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me.
Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep?
Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!”
Despite their situation, they are quite happy with their sheltered life until Merricat senses something bad is about to happen. Her foreboding feeling is proved to be well-founded when the family’s cousin Charles comes for a visit. Merricat is certain that Charles has come with an ulterior motive, perhaps having to do with the family’s finances, but Constance and Julian welcome him. Merricat fears that Charles will bring an end to their happy home. She takes it upon herself to get rid of Charles, but to what lengths will she go?
Check the WRL catalog for We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
