Shirley Jackson

Published in 1959, The Haunting of Hill House follows Dr. Montague, who rents the reportedly haunted Hill House to investigate paranormal phenomena, bringing along guests Eleanor Vance and Theodora. The novel is considered one of the finest literary ghost stories ever written, with Stephen King praising it as one of the most important horror novels of the 20th century.

'The Lottery,' published in The New Yorker in 1948, depicts a seemingly ordinary American town conducting an annual ritual in which a randomly selected resident is stoned to death. The story generated massive controversy upon publication, reportedly prompting hundreds of cancellation letters to The New Yorker and becoming one of the most frequently anthologized short stories in American literature.

The 2018 Netflix series created by Mike Flanagan is only loosely inspired by Jackson's 1959 novel. While it borrows the house and some character names, it constructs an entirely new multi-generational family drama rather than directly adapting the book's plot, and Jackson's novel was also adapted more faithfully into 1963 and 1999 films.

Beyond Hill House and The Lottery, Jackson wrote novels including 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' (1962), 'The Sundial' (1958), and 'The Bird's Nest' (1954). She also published humorous autobiographical nonfiction about family life in 'Life Among the Savages' (1953) and 'Raising Demons' (1957).