The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

If you want to experience reading James in a shorter version than The Golden Bowl, this is the place to start. This novella is just under a 100 pages and demonstrates very well James' psychological style. It is supposedly a ghost story involving a governess and her two charges. A young woman is hired to be a governess for two orphaned children on a remote estate. She is hired with the proviso that she not bother the children's guardian, their uncle, with any problems or even questions. He wants nothing to do with the children. The young woman arrives at the estate and at first everything seems fine, in fact, more than fine. The girl is living at the estate and is lovely. The boy arrives not too much later under a dark cloud. He has been sent away from the boarding school where he was for unspecified problems. There is also a housekeeper who has been a witness to the previous governess and testifies to her poor character and her subsequent death. It's also suggested that the previous governess has a very unwholesome relationship with a male servant , who has also expired, and that the two of them practiced inappropriate if not downright evil conduct with the two children. The new governess begins to experience hauntings by the deceased governess and servant. No one elso ever sees the "ghosts", although it's implied that the children see them yet refuse to admit that they do. This has lead some critics to point out that the story is really about the governess' hallucinations or hysteria. I think I take the position that it really is just a ghost story but one where very little happens because everything, including the reader, becomes internalized. The reader plays a very large role in making this story scary since details are skimpy and one must imagine the horrors. I think that's one of the most important points to the story. The Turn of the Screw refers to ratcheting it up a bit more or one more turn. It's an interesting exercise but ultimately disappointing if your looking for a ripping good yarn because there's never an explanation of what's really going on.